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The Truth About Christian Science 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR 



Scenes and Sayings in the Life op Christ. 
A Summer Across the Sea. 

The World a Spiritual System : An Outline of 
Metaphysics. 

The Basal Beliefs of Christianity. 

The Psychology of Religion. 

Can We Believe in Immortality? 

The Coming of the Lord: Will It Be Pre- 

millennial? 
Is THE World Growing Better? 
A Wonderful Night. 
The Personality of God. 
Twelve Gates: A Study in Catholicity. 



The Truth About 
Christian science 

The Founder and the Faith 

By JAMES H^'SNOWDEN 




PHILADELPHIA 

THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 

1920 



3^ 



bi^^ 



Copyright. 1920 
By F. M. BRASELMAN 



i^EC 30 1920 

0)CI.A604818 

f 



PREFACE 

The author of this book is well aware that it falls 
among those "obnoxious books'* which the founder of 
Christian Science forbade her followers to read in her 
endeavor by her censorship to protect them from any 
influence or light coming from outside the closed circle of 
her own books and other approved writings. It is not 
therefore written primarily for Christian Scientists, but 
if any of them should look into it, it is not thought they 
will find just ground of ofiFense, however strong may be 
their dissent. It is difficult to be permanently oflFended 
with facts. 

Every important statement in this book relating to the 
founder and faith of Christian Science is supported by 
quotations from her writings or is based upon trust- 
worthy evidence. The most serious allegations per- 
taining to Mrs. Eddy are sustained by her own words 
found in her acknowledged writings, for in such matters 
she is always the most damaging witness against herself. 

The author throughout this book has let Mrs. Eddy 
speak fairly for herself. Her teaching is entitled to a 
patient and even sympathetic hearing in its own behalf 
before any judgment is passed upon it. The author 
really had no particular prejudice against it when he 
began this investigation, and when asked by the publishers 
to write a book on it was even inclined to let Christian 
Science alone as a rather harmless vagary, and he formed 
his judgments of it as he proceeded with this study. It 



vi PREFACE 

was close acquaintance with and insight into its real 
nature that led him to see that it is a graver error than 
he had supposed. 

If anyone asks for the justification for another book on 
this subject, the author answers that he had doubts on 
this point himself until he began to look into its literature 
and then saw that there appears to be no book that 
covers the whole ground of the founder and the faith and 
brings its history up to the present time. This book not 
only endeavors to do this, but also as a distinctive feature 
seeks to see the elements of truth in Christian Science 
and recover them to their full use. It is a story that has 
often been told, but it will no doubt need to be told again 
and again and brought up to date and subjected to the 
criticism of new light. 

J. H. S. 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introduction 1 

1. Truth and Error in Religion 

2. Truth and Error in Christian Science 

3. Literature of the Subject 

II, The Subsoil of Christian Science 14 

1. Philosophical Idealism 

2. New England Transcendentalism 

3. Faith Healing and Spiritualism 

III. Life of Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy 22 

1. Early Years 

2. Early Marriages 

3. Wander Years 

4. At Work in Lynn 

5. Enter: Asa Gilbert Eddy, Third Husband 

6. Lawsuits at Lynn 

7. Malicious Animal Magnetism 

8. Life in Boston 

9. Retirement and Closing Years 

IV. Where Did Mrs. Eddy Get Her System of Healing? 58 

1. Mrs. Eddy's Claims 

2. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby 

3. Rev. Warren F. Evans, First Expositor of Quimby 

4. Mrs. Eddy's Relations with Dr. Quimby. 

5. Mrs. Eddy's Denial of Dependence on Quimby 

V. "Science and Health": The Making of the Book. . 77 

1. Contents of the Quimby Manuscript 

2. Editions of "Science and Health" 

3. Who Wrote the Book? 

4. Enter: Reverend James Henry Wiggin, Literary Reviser 

5. Mrs. Eddy's Claims to Divine Inspiration 

VI. "Science and Health": The Contents of the Book . 102 

1. Prayer 

2. Atonement and Eucharist 

3. Marriage 

4. Christian Science Versus Spiritualism 

5. Animal Magnetism Unmasked 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

6. Science, Theology, Medicine 

7. Physiology 

8. Footsteps of Truth 

9. Creation 

10. Science of Being 

11. Some Objections Answered 

12. Christian Science Practice 

13. Teaching Christian Science 

14. Recapitulation 

15. Genesis 

16. The Apocalypse 

17. Glossary 

18. Fruitage 



VII. Christian Science Teaching 149 

1. Its Fundamental Denials 

(1) Matter 

(2) Sickness 

(3) Pain and Pleasure 

(4) Sin 

(5) Death 

(6) Moral Tendencies of These Denials 

2. The Pantheism of Christian Science 

3. Christian Science and Marriage 

4. Christian Science and Christian Doctrines 

(1) God 

(2) Creation 

(3) Man 

(4) Christ 

(5) The Holy Spirit 

(6) Matter, Sickness, Suffering, Sin, and Death 

(7) Prayer 

(8) Atonement 

(9) Ordinances 

(10) Marriage 

(11) The Bible 

(12) Healing 

• (13) Eschatology 

VIII. The Christian Science Church 174 

1. The Founding of the Church of Christ Scientist 

2. Dissensions in the Christian Science Church 

3. Organization of the Christian Science Church 

4. Christian Science Church Service 

5. What Is the Membership of the Christian Science 

Church? 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGE 

IX. Mind Healing and Christian Science Cures .... 223 

1. Mind Healing in General 

2. Have Miraculous Cures Ceased.'^ 

3. Christian Science Cures 

4. The Mercenary Aspect of Christian Science 

X. The Appeal of Christian Science 259 

1. The Appeal of Health 

2. The Appeal of Comfort 

3. The Appeal of Idealism 

4. The Appeal of Liberal Revolt 

5. The Appeal of Religion 

6. The Future of Christian Science 

7. Some Recent Mind Healing Movements 

(1) New Thought 

(2) The Emmanuel Church Movement 

XI. Old Truths Newly Emphasized 287 

1. The Supremacy of the Spiritual 

2. The Gospel of Health 

3. The Duty of Cheerfulness 

4. The Practice of the Presence of God. 



WORKS CONSULTED 

Bates, J. H., Christian Science and Its Problems, 1898. 

Benson, Robert Hugh, A Book of Essays, 1916. 

Berkeley, George, The Principles of Human Knowledge, Krauth's 

Edition. 
BowNE, Borden P., The Immanence of God, 1905. 
Brown, William Leon, Christian Science Falsely So Called, 1911. 
Buckley, James M., Faith Healing, Christian Science and Kindred 

Phenomena, 1892. 
Cabot, Richard C, Article on "One Hundred Christian Science 

Cures," in McClure's Magazine, August, 1908. 
Calkins, Mary Whiton, The Persistent Problems of Philosophy, 1907. 
Carpenter, William B., Mental Physiology, 1874. 
Carroll, H. K., The Religious Forces of the United States, 1912. 
Carroll, Robert S., The Soul in Suffering, 1919. 
Clemens, Samuel L. (Mark Twain), Christian Science, 1907. 
Coakeley, Thomas J., Christian Science and the Catholic Church, 

1912. 
Combs, George Hamilton, Some Latter-Day Religions, 1899. 
CooKSEY, N. B., Christian Science Under the Searchlight, 1915. 
Coombs, J. V., Religious Delusions, 1904. 

Coppage, L. J., Christian Science in the Light of Reason, 1914. 
CoRiAT, IsADOR H., Religion and Medicine, 1907. 
CuTTEN, George Barton, The Psychological Phenomena of Chris- 

tianity, 1908. 
Dresser, Horatio W., Health and the Inner Life, 1906; A Physician 

of the Soul, 1908; The Philosophy of the Spirit, 1908; The 

History of the New Thought Movement, 1919. 
Dresser, Julius A., The True History of Mental Science, 1887. 
Eddy, Mrs. Mary Baker G., Science and Health with Key to the 

Scriptures, 1916; Retrospection and Introspection, 1891; Unity 

of Good and Unreality of Evil, 1915; Pulpit and Press, 1915; 

Rudimental Divine Science, 1915; No and Yes, 1915; Christian 

Healing and the People's Idea of God, 1912; Christian Science 

versus Pantheism, 1912; Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1898; 

The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany, 1914; 

The Manual of the Mother Church, 1919. 
Edwards, Maurice D., Christian Science Reviewed, 1906. 
Farnsworth, Edward C, The Sophistries of Christian Science, 1909; 

The Passing of Mary Baker Eddy, 1911. 
FisKE, A. A., A Searchlight on Christian Science, 1913. 



WORKS CONSULTED xi 

Flower, B. O., Christian Science as a Religious Belief and a Thera- 
peutic Agent, 1909. 

Frothingham, OcTAVibus Brooks, Transcendentalism in New 
England, 1897. 

Gray, James M., The Antidote of Christian Science, 1907. 

Greenbaum, Li-EON, Follow Christ, 1916. 

Haldeman, I. M., Christian Science in the Light of Holy Scripture, 
1909. 

Harris, Walter S., Christian Science and the Ordinary Man, 1917. 

Hegeman, J. WiNTHROP, Must Protestantism Adopt Christian 
Science? 1914. 

Hudson, Thomas Jay, The Law of Mental Medicine, 1903. 

James, William W., The Principles of Psychology, 1893. 

Johnson, Thomas Gary, Some Modern Isms, 1919, 

Kratzer, G. a.. Spiritual Man, 1914. 

KuHNS, Oscar, The Sense of the Infinite, 1908. 

Ladd, George T., Outlines of Physiological Psychology, 1893. 

Lambert L. A., Christian Science Before the Bar of Reason, 1908. 

Larson, Christian D., The Good Side of Christian Science, 1916. 

Lea, Charles Herman, A Plea for the Thorough and Unbiassed In- 
vestigation of Christian Science, 1915. 

McCoMB, Samuel, Religion and Medicine, 1907. 

Mack AY, W. Mackintosh, The Disease and Remedy of Sin, 1919. 

Mars, Gerhardt, The Interpretation of Life: Relation of Modern 
Culture to Christian Science, 1908. 

Marshall, Henry Rutgers, Mind and Conduct, 1919. 

Marsten, Francis Edward, The Mask of Christian Science, 1909. 

MiLMiNE, Georgine, The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History 
of Christian Science, 1909. 

MouLTON T, G., An Exposure of Christian Science, 1906. 

Newton, R. Heber, Christian Science, 1899. 

Paget, Stephen, The Faith and Works of Christian Science, 1909. 

Paulsen, Friedrich, Introduction to Philosophy, 1897. 

Payot, Jules, The Education of the Will, 1909. 

Peabody, Frederick W., The Religio- Medical Masquerade, 1910. 

Pod MORE, Frank, Mesmerism and Christian Science, 1903. 

Powell, Lyman V., Christian Science, the Faith and Its Founder, 1907. 

PuRRiNGTON, W. A., Christian Science; An Exposition, 1899. 

Riley, Woodbridge, American Thought from Puritanism to Prag- 
maiism, 1815. 

Rydberg, Viktor, The Magic of the Middle Ages, 1879. 

Schofield, Alfred T., The Force of Mind; or. The Mental Factor in 
Medicine, 1907. 

Sears, Clara Endicott, Gleanings from Old Shaker Journals^ 1916. 

Seward, Theodore F., How to Get Acquainted vnth God, 1902. 

Sheldon, Henry C, Christian Science So-Called, 1913. 

Slater, John Rothwell, and others. Searchlight on Christian 
Science, 1899. 



xii WORKS CONSULTED 

Stetson, Augusta E., Give God the Glory, 1911; Vital Issues in 

Christian Science, 1914. 
Sturge, M. Carta, The Truth and Error of Christian Science, 
Swain, Richard L., The Real Key to Christian Science, 1917. 
Thompson, W. Hanna, Brain and Personality, 1919. 
Trine, Ralph Waldo, In Tune with the Infinite, 1898; The Aline- 

ment of Life, 1913. 
Troward, T., The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science, 1915. 
War FIELD, Benjamin B., Counterfeit Miracles, 1918. 
Weaver, Edward E., Mind and Health with an Examination of 

Some Systems of Divine Healing, 1913. 
White, Andrew D., History of the Warfare of Science with Theology, 

1897. 
Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T., The Integrity of Christian Science, 1900. 
Wilbur, Sibyl, The Life of Mary Baker Eddy, 1907. 
WiLBY, Thomas W., Whoi Is Christian Science? 1915. 
Woodbury, Josephine C, War in Heaven: Sixteen Years* Experi- 
ence in Christian Science; Article on "The Book and the 

Woman" in the Arena, May, 1899. 
Worcester, Elwood, Religion and Medicine, 1907; The Living 

Word, 1908. 
Arena, 1899. 

Christian Science Journal, 1918, 1919. 
Christian Science Sentinel, 1920. 
McClures Magazine, 1907, 1908. 
Report of Clerical and Medical Committee on Spiritual Healing, 1914, 



In tlie beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

— Genesis 1:1. 

And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a 
living soul. 

— Genesis 2:7. 

I have never doubted that fire is hot and that ice is cold. 

— Bishop Berkeley, 

" Dark is the world to thee: thyself art the reason why; 
For is He not all but that which has power to feel **I am I." 

— Tennyson, 

A pseudoscience does not necessarily consist wholly of lies. It 
contains many truths and even valuable ones. The rottenest bank 
starts with a little specie. It puts out a thousand promises to pay 
on the strength of a single dollar, but the dollar is commonly a 
good pne. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, 

One of the most important of all changes had taken place in the 
world — a change in the mode of thinking. The work of Descartes, 
Locke, and Sir Isaac Newton had become a common inheritance; the 
relation of physical effect with physical cause had become established 
even in ignorant and unthinking minds. 

— Georgine Milmine 

One of the most primitive and fundamental shapes which the 
relation of cause and effect takes in the savage mind, is the assumed 
connection between disease or death and some malevolent personal 
agency. . . The minds of civilized people have become familiar 
with the conception of natural law, and that conception has simply 
stifled the old superstition as clover chokes out weeds. . . . The 
disposition to believe was one of the oldest inheritances of the human 
mind, while the capacity for estimating evidence in the cases of 
physical causation i§ one of its very latest and most laborious ac- 
quisitions. 

— John Fiske, 

Hereby know ye the spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth 
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit 
that confesseth not Jesus is not of God. 

— I John 4i:^ 



Xlll 



THE TRUTH 
ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

It is the purpose of the author of this book to ascertain 
and state, as accurately and impartially and fairly as he 
can, the facts as to the founder and the faith of Christian 
Science. While one cannot wholly escape from the limi- 
tations of his personal point of view and from the sub- 
jective coloring of his established convictions and un- 
conscious preferences, yet objective truth should be his 
ideal, and this is the aim and effort of this study. 

1. TRUTH AND ERROR IN RELIGION 

Religion is our conscious relation to God. All human 
beings sustain vital unconscious relations to God, for in 
him we necessarily live and move and have our being, 
and we could no more escape from his presence and power 
than we could slip out of the grip of gravitation. But 
it is only as this relation emerges into the field of conscious 
life and becomes a matter of personal experience and 
choice and action that it becomes religion. This experi- 
ence is one of the deepest and most universal and vital 
facts in our human world, as all history witnesses. 

The truth in religion is open to us on the same terms as 

1 



2 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

truth in other fields: intuition, perception, judgment, 
evidence, reasoning, and experience. God is nigh us, even 
in our heart. Agnosticism, that peremptorily shuts its 
gate against any knowledge of God, is irresistibly battered 
down by the reasonings of our minds and the urgencies of 
our hearts, and we know God as surely as the child knows 
its father, or as the eye sees the sun. 

The truth contained in religion is the most vital in the 
world, the foundation and framework of all our knowledge 
and life. 'Tn the beginning God," is the sublime opening 
of the Bible, and it is the beginning of all our science and 
philosophy, religion and life. What we think about God 
is the bottom principle of all our thinking and shapes 
and colors our thoughts on every subject, as the center 
of a circle determines every point around its whole cir- 
cumference. If we believe in no God, we have a world 
without a Cause, a universe without a system and center, 
a hopeless confusion and chaos, if not a wild dream of 
insanity as well as a colossal cruelty. Give us God, and 
the world falls into order and meaning and purpose 
around a central throne, and all things work together for 
good. 

But everything depends on the kind of God we believe 
in. Any pantheistic God or impersonal principle or blind 
fate does not give us any light but only turns the light 
we have into a greater darkness. Our Christian faith 
believes in God our heavenly Father, and this fact is its 
Rock of ages and its glory. We are "'infants crying in 
the night," and our cry is answered by our Father who 
folds us in his everlasting arm, close to his loving heart. 
When we have faith in God as our Father we can calm 
our perplexed minds and soothe our troubled hearts and 



INTRODUCTION 3 

be still and know that he is God. This simple faith 
solves our problems, makes plain our path, and gives us 
strength and courage to resist our temptations and bear 
our burdens and win the battle of life. 

Yet the field of religion, which yields the most blessed 
fruits, also abounds in the most poisonous weeds. Its 
very light may turn to darkness, and then ''how great is 
that darkness!" The best things are always subject to 
the worst perversion and abuse. The science and art 
that invent magic machines and multiply material goods 
and create all the wonders and splendors of our civilization, 
also produce the most diabolical devices of destruction 
and death that blast the very face of the earth and destroy 
millions of lives. All our education is only a sharp and 
cunning tool that bad men can use as powerfully as good 
men. The Devil can clothe himself in light seemingly as 
pure and beautiful as the holiness of any saint or the 
white robes of an angel, and often so artfully as to deceive 
the very elect. 

It is not surprising, then, but inevitable that religion 
should be productive of error as well as of truth, of evil as 
well as of good. And this all history confirms. The records 
of religion present the aspect of a vast confusion and chaos 
and noise of conflicting beliefs and practices, "a dust of 
systems and of creeds." Religion divides into innumer- 
able forms and sects that are all more or less at war with 
one another. Not only are there many antagonistic 
general religions, but each religion in itself splits into 
sects, and historic Christianity has not escaped this fate 
but has divided into upwards of two hundred denomi- 
nations, each one of which has its own internal divisions. 

In this field are intermingled all forms ,and varieties of 



4 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

truth and error, wholesome grain and deadly weeds. 
There is no form of behef so false and fantastic that some 
religion or religionist has not held it as a doctrine, and no 
religious rite so inhuman and cruel and wicked that it 
has not been advocated and practiced as a sacred duty. 

In religion. 
What damned error but some sober brow 
Will bless it, and approve it with a text. 
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament. 

Hatred and malice and murder and every kind of un- 
cleanness have been consecrated on the altar of religion 
as truly as purity and love and service and sacrifice. No 
demon or Devil could be more vile and vicious in char- 
acter and conduct than have been some gods that men 
have worshipped. On the other hand, it is not to be 
overlooked that such errors and misdeeds are not the 
general fact and fruit but are relatively rare in the history 
of religion, and that Christianity has an infinitely larger 
credit side to its account and has filled its pages with the 
best thoughts and noblest deeds and the whitest and 
most beautiful characters this world has ever known. 

These errors and evils in religion are not all found in the 
past, but are still in the world and run rife in Christian 
lands and even disfigure professedly Christian forms of 
faith and worship. It is necessary to face the difficult 
task of discriminating the wheat from the tares, of trying 
the spirits whether they be of God, and of proving all 
things and holding fast only that which is good. 

2. TRUTH AND ERROR IN CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

It is certain that there is truth in Christian Science. 
No pure error could ever last or even get a start in the 



INTRODUCTION 5 

world. Such an error would totally contradict itself so 
that no sane mind pould entertain it. Every error not 
only impinges on and interlaces with truth around its 
whole boundary, but it also contains internal elements of 
fact. It is this truth in any erroneous system of belief 
and conduct that gives it some working value and enables 
it to live and last in the world. Tested by this principle, 
Christian Science has proved that it must contain large 
elements of important truth, for it has laid hold of many 
minds and spread rapidly among men. The adherents of 
this faith are generally people of intelligence and culture 
and some of them are of marked ability. It has also 
become institutionalized in a great mother church with 
thousands of members and with many branches and in a 
complex and powerful organization with its sacred book, 
its literature, magazines, and daily newspaper, and with 
an alert and efficient system of propaganda. It is less 
than fifty years old, and few religions have more to show 
in so short a time in practical results than has this modern 
cult. 

Christian Science certainly meets some wide and deep 
need in our day. Its success indicates that it has either 
discovered some new truth, or else it has emphasized and 
utilized some old truth which other forms of religion have 
neglected and let fall into desuetude. However much 
error it may contain it has rendered a service by calling 
attention to this truth and forcing the Christian Church 
to do it justice in its own teaching and practice. It is 
the duty of Christians to see and accept and utilize this 
truth, and it is the purpose of this book to endeavor to do 
this in the study of it. The spirit of truth-seeking re- 
quires this and it is hoped it may be done in all fairness 



6 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

and frankness, both out of regard to justice to Christian 
Science and of duty to our Christian faith. 

On the other hand, the reader will find and, even at 
the outset of study and without prejudicing fairness, can 
affirm, on the general groimd of well-known admitted 
facts, that there is much error in Christian Science. The 
most superficial acquaintance with its doctrines and 
practices proves this. A system of belief that bodily 
casts overboard as utter delusions anatomy, physiology, 
biology, geology, astronomy, and all sciences, repudiates 
organized human knowledge and turns the whole natural 
world into a baseless illusion of the mind, must contain a 
huge error that is the mother of a whole brood of errors. 
It will be the business of this study to expose and refute 
these errors as it proceeds. 

Few subjects have been so beset and beclouded with 
personal issues and controversial points as Christian 
Science, and it calls for a fair mind and clear vision to dis- 
criminate between the truth and error in this system; but 
the author will strive to see the facts in the light of 
objective truth and write in a spirit of candor and charity. 

3. LITERATURE OF THE SUBJECT 

The literature of Christian Science has become extensive, 
and a number of the more important books on the subject 
are named in the list of "Works Consulted'' prefixed to 
this volume. It is the purpose of this section to name 
and characterize a few of the most important ones, es- 
pecially of those on which this study is directly based. 

First and foremost are the works of Mrs. Mary Baker 
Eddy. She has the right before all others to speak for | 

herself and should be heard at every step and point. \ 



INTRODUCTION 7 

Though at first she was a slow and untrained and even un- 
grammatical writer and had to learn after she had passed 
her fiftieth year the simplest rudiments of literary art, 
yet through patient and persistent practice she was able 
to turn out several books, but with what help will be told 
in later chapters. Her first and chief book is the well- 
known '^Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," 
which is the bible of Christian Science, the book that she 
claimed and that her followers claim was divinely inspired 
in the same sense that the Bible was inspired; the book 
that contains her authoritative official teaching and is 
officially enjoined to be used and is used along with the 
Bible in every Christian Science church and service the 
world over. Frequent reference to, and examination of, 
this book will be made in the course of this study. Of 
course every thorough student of this subject should 
read this book, and as a guarantee of good faith the writer 
declares that he patiently carried through the task of 
reading it from beginning to end: a wearisome labor that 
few people outside of the inner circle of the most devoted 
followers and practitioners of Christian Science have done 
or ever will do. 

Another book by Mrs. Eddy is "Retrospection and 
Introspection,'^ a brief and fragmentary autobiography 
which should be read and carefully compared with other 
sources of information as to her life. Several other books 
are listed among her writings, such as "Miscellaneous 
Writings, 1883-1896," and "The First Church of Christ 
Scientist and Miscellany," but these are mostly composed 
of selected articles, contributed to The Christian Science 
Journal and The Christian Science Sentinel and other 
journals, and of messages to her churches. A number of 



8 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

her sermons are also available, many of these being pub- 
lished separately. All of her books and writings are 
published by the official Christian Science Publishing 
Society in Boston, and the edition of "'Science and Health,'* 
used in this study bears the date of 1916, except when 
othenvise indicated. 

One of the most important books on this subject is 
"The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of 
Christian Science,'' by Georgine Milmine. This book 
first appeared as a series of illustrated articles in McClure's 
Magazine in 1906-1907 and was then issued in book form. 
Christian Scientists hold this to be a prejudiced and 
hostile work, but in the judgment of the author it is a 
thoroughly scientific piece of historical investigation and 
composition. Miss Milmine made a comprehensive and 
searching inquiry into the facts of Mrs. Eddy's life and into 
the teaching and practice of Christian Science. She 
visited the scenes of Mrs. Eddy's career, followed her from 
town to town and through year after year, examined 
books and newspapers and court records, interviewed 
many persons who knew and had had personal relations 
with her, obtained affidavits on important matters, and 
secured photographs of many places and documents that 
enter into the story. Her book is based on the facts as 
thus obtained and is not only illustrated with many 
pictures from photographs of places and persons but is 
also fortified with facsimiles of some important documents. 
The book is written with an evident desire and effort to 
find and tell the truth, and it will ever stand as an authori- 
tative history based on original investigation and backed 
up with names, dates, documents, and affidavits. The 
writer has made frequent use of and generous quotations 



INTRODUCTION 9 

from this book, of which due acknowledgments have been 
given. 

Another book next in importance to Miss Milmine's 
is "Christian Science, the Faith and Its Founder," by 
Lyman P. Powell, Rector of St. John's Church, North- 
ampton, Mass., and now president of Hobart College, 
Geneva, N. Y. Dr. Powell says in his preface that he 
has made free use of Miss Milmine's articles and adds: 
"I have taken the pains, however, in each instance to 
verify her statements by correspondence or by interviews 
with those concerned. For this purpose alone I have 
traveled more than twenty-five hundred miles and am 
glad to be able to testify to the singular accuracy of the 
articles and the thoroughness with which they have been 
prepared.'' This is a remarkable confirmation of the 
trustworthiness of Miss Milmine's book. Dr. Powell 
also contributes additional light of value on Christian 
Science as the result of his own investigations. The 
day for obtaining personal evidence from those that 
knew and had relations with Mrs. Eddy is about gone, 
and later writers will necessarily largely depend on these 
first-hand students and witnesses for the facts in the case. 

Miss Milmine's articles in McClure's called forth an 
answer in the form of a series of articles that appeared in 
the journal, Human Life, and were then issued in a volume 
entitled "The Life of Mary Baker Eddy," (1907), by 
Sibyl Wilbur O'Brien, now Sibyl Wilbur. This book is 
published by The Christian Science Publishing Society, 
Boston, and is thus officially authorized. Mrs. Eddy 
herself published in the Christian Science Sentinel of 
March 12, 1910, the following authorization of the book, 
which is now printed in the book itself: 



10 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

I have not had sufficient interest in the matter to read or to note 
from others' reading what the enemies of Christian Science are 
said to be circulating regarding my history, but my friends have 
read Sibyl Wilbur's book, "Life of Mary Baker Eddy," and request 
the privilege of buying, circulating, and recommending it to the 
public. I briefly declare that nothing has occurred in my life's 
experience which, if correctly narrated and understood, could injure 
me; and not a little is already reported of the good accomplished 
therein, the self-sacrifice, etc., that has distinguished all my working 
years. I thank Miss Wilbur and the Concord Publishing Company 
for their unselfish labors in placing this book before the public, 
and hereby say that they have my permission to publish and circu- 
late this work. Mary Baker Eddy. 



It will be noted that Mrs. Eddy takes advantage of the 
occasion to write a recommendation of herself as well as 
of the book. 

As to Miss Wilbur's book, it bears all the marks of an 
interested advocate's statement of facts in dispute and 
defense of a character under attack. It is partisan in the 
extreme, and everything is turned to Mrs. Eddy's glory. 
The many facts in her life that appear in an unfortunate 
and often painful light in Miss Milmine's book are by 
Miss Wilbur toned down and glossed over and clothed 
in a different aspect. Even the most desperate cases are 
made the best of, though the ugly truth cannot always be 
denied or explained away. The personal adulation of 
Mrs. Eddy, approaching divine worship, is nauseating. 
Even such a simple-minded soul and colorless limp 
personality as Asa Gilbert Eddy, Mrs. Eddy's third 
husband, at whose *'calm, sweet eyes" the presiding judge 
in a celebrated trial "must have wondered," is ridiculously 
adulated. In contrast with Miss Milmine's book, which 
is abundantly supplied with quotations from and references 
to authorities and documents, Miss Wilbur's book is 
almost bare of such quotations and references. It ob- 



INTRODUCTION 11 

viously lacks objective authority and gives the impression 
that it is largely a subjective production. It is based 
in no small measure on conversations with and explana- 
tions and private disclosures which must have come from 
Mrs. Eddy herself. Such statements occur as "Mrs. 
Eddy has told the author," and "'Mrs. Eddy has recently 
pointed out to the author." There are many of these 
confidential revelations, so that one is led to believe that 
the book is largely the result of the intimate communings 
of the author with Mrs. Eddy and that it is little more 
than what Mrs. Eddy wants the world to believe about 
herself. The book, however, is a valuable document in 
the case and confirms more than it explains away. 

Having in hand the books of Mrs. Eddy, Miss Milmine, 
Dr. Powell, and Miss Wilbur the student can get at the 
essential facts as to the founder and the faith of this cult. 

Many other books throw important corroborative light 
and critical illumination on it, among which may be 
named the following: "The Interpretation of Life," New 
York, (1908), by Gerhardt C. Mars, a New York "lec- 
turer," purports to show "the relation of Modern Culture 
to Christian Science." It displays considerable learning 
and acumen and strongly supports Mrs. Eddy's claims, 
granting her "preternatural insight," but distinguishing 
"two phases in Mrs. Eddy's life — as indeed in all our 
lives — which are to be borne in mind, viz.: her human 
personality, with its mortal limitations, and her spiritual 
individuality which is ever seeking to express itself through 
the human form," a distinction apparently after the 
manner of the infallibility of the pope, who is infallible 
only when speaking in his official and not in his private 
capacity. 



12 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

A dispassionate exposition of the system is found in 
Thomas W. Wilby's "What Is Christian Science?'* On 
the other hand, "A Plea for the Thorough and Unbiassed 
Investigation of Christian Science/' by Charles Herman 
Lea, an English writer, is anything but "unbiassed" in 
its intensely dogmatic and heated defense of this faith. 
If italics and black letter type were logic, Mr. Lea would 
be very convincing. 

''TheReligio-Medical Masquerade, a Complete Exposure 
of Christian Science," (1910), is by Frederick W. Peabody, 
a Boston lawyer who was counsel in several cases brought 
against Mrs. Eddy and has had intimate relations with 
many of the people involved in this story. He tells us 
in the introduction to his book that ''the facts herein set 
forth are, almost without exception, based, either upon 
Mrs. Eddy's own published utterances, her private cor- 
respondence, the sworn testimony of witnesses, or the 
admissions under oath of her most influential friends and 
followers." Mr. Peabody's book, written in a trenchant 
style, reveals much inside information and is a damaging 
document in the case he presents against Christian 
Science. 

''The Faith and Works of Christian Science," (1909), 
is an examination of the system, especially in it claims 
of healing, by Stephen Paget, M. D., an eminent London 
medical authority. Mark Twain's "Christian Science," 
(1907), is the humorist's terribly sarcastic but really 
serious exposure of the cult, illuminating and sharp as 
a flash of lightning. It by no means lacks logic, for so 
keen a logician as Dr. Francis L. Patton, of Princeton, 
when he was asked what book he read in refutation of 
Christian Science, answered with a characteristic snap of 



INTRODUCTION 13 

his mouth, "Mark Twain!" ^'Mesmerism and Christian 
Science," (1909), by Frank Podmore, an EngHsh psy- 
chologist and member of the Society for Psychical Re- 
search, is written with a psychologist's insight and in a 
judicial spirit. A small but important book is '*The 
True History of Mental Science," by Julius A. Dresser, 
(1887), who was a patient of Dr. Quimby and then a 
teacher of his system and had inside and intimate knowl- 
edge of the facts that lie at the very origin and root of 
Christian Science. 

The title of this book occurred to and was adopted by 
the writer in May, 1919, and he had almost completed the 
manuscript when he discovered that a book with the 
same title (except the subtitle) had appeared in 1916, 
the author being George M. Searle, of the Paulist Fathers 
and formerly Professor of Mathematics in the Catholic 
University, Washington, D. C. Father Searle's book is 
confined to a critical examination of **Science and Health," 
and is a keen piece of work. 



CHAPTER II 
THE SUBSOIL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Every system of thought and movement in society has 
deep roots and distant connections, and we must under- 
stand these in order to comprehend it. Christian Science 
has such roots. 

1. PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM 

Philosophical idealism is as old as Plato and has come 
down into our day in a deepening gulf stream of 
thought. It found classical expression in Berkeley's 
"Principles of Human Knowledge," a book of singular 
lucidity which readers untrained in philosophy can under- 
stand. Briefly, this system holds that mind or spirit is 
the ultimate and sole reality and that matter is a mode of 
its activity. The doctrine usually maintains that God 
is the infinite and eternal Spirit, who has posited or 
created finite spirits, and that the material world is a 
mode of the divine will and life. As finite spirits we are 
environed in God, in whom "we live and move and have 
our being,'* and our experience of the world is caused by 
the activity of God which we in some degree share with 
him. Idealism, then, does not at all deny the reality of 
matter or resolve it into a subjective illusion or delusion, 
but only discovers and demonstrates, as it believes, the 
true nature of matter as a mode of the divine life. 

14 



THE SUBSOIL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 15 

Dr. Powell says of P. P. Quimby, the mind healer 
of Portland, Me., from whom Mrs. Eddy, as we shall see, 
derived her ideas: '*He read much. The Bible was ever 
in his hand, and sometimes Berkeley." Quimby taught 
that "error is matter." The uneducated Portland clock 
maker thus had obtained a perverted notion of Berkeley's 
idealism, and this trickled down into Mrs. Eddy's mind. 
She mentions Berkeley but only to disown him and it is 
not likely that she ever read him, but in some way she 
got an inkling of this philosopher's theory in the form 
that matter, instead of being a phenomenal experience of 
objective spiritual reality, is a pure subjective delusion to 
be "denied" and cast out of the mind; and this initial 
mistake lies at the root of her system and is the beginning 
of all her trouble. The basis of Christian Science is a 
misunderstood and spurious form of idealism. Philo- 
sophical idealism in all its forms repudiates Christian 
Science as an illegitimate and deformed child and will 
acknowledge no responsibility for it. 

2. NEW ENGLAND TRANSCENDENTALISM 

Mrs. Eddy grew up in New England at a time when a 
peculiar type of transcendentalism was running its course 
and blighting the roots of historic Christian faith. Re- 
action against the extreme Calvinism of Jonathan Edwards 
and his successors had swung to Unitarianism and then 
had escaped from the gravitation of Christianity into 
free thought. Channing and Parker, Frothingham and 
Freeman Clarke were leaders in the movement that gave 
the world "the pale negations of Boston Unitarianism.'* 
Emerson went beyond them and became lost in the 



16 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

pantheistic Oversoul. He was a seer of wonderful insight 
and taught truth of imperishable value, yet he emitted 
a cold, white light that corruscated brilliantly in the brain 
but gave no warmth to the heart and little religious 
satisfaction to the soul. The literary genius of Long- 
fellow and Lowell and Holmes produced some high-grade 
poetry, but yielded very thin religion. Transcendentalism 
reached its limit in A. Bronson Alcott whose "orphic 
sayings'* and subjective exhalations were bits of pale 
clouds that have long since evaporated into nothingness. 
New England transcendentalism thus did some notable 
literary work and emitted some splendid fireworks, but 
it burned New England over with a kind of slow-consuming 
fire of religious indifference and skepticism that left the 
ground ready for a new crop of reactionary movements. 
Such a crop is sure to spring up. Deprive people of relig- 
ious bread and they will take to stones rather than do 
without any spiritual food. When the human soul is 
swept and left empty, it is in a dangerous condition, and 
if nothing else comes in, devils will. As faith in the myth- 
ological gods died out in the ancient Greek and Roman 
world, it swarmed with all manner of wild, fantastic cults. 
Dead orthodoxy becomes the rank hothouse and seedbed 
of heresy. As rational faith withers, fads flourish. The 
human heart is "'incurably religious'* and will have its 
god and its cult, and if robbed of one thing it will take to 
another, though it be a god as false and foolish as a hideous 
idol of wood or stone. 

New England in the middle decades of the last century 
was just the soil in which Christian Science could strike 
root and flourish, and it took advantage of its opportunity. 



THE SUBSOIL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 17 

3. FAITH HEALING AND SPIRITUALISM 

New England was prolific in these strange cults. At 
East Canterbury, New Hampshire, within five miles of 
Tilton, Mary Baker's childhood home, was the main 
community of the Shakers, a sect that had been founded 
by Ann Lee. Their peculiar doctrines and still more 
peculiar practices were the cause of much popular ex- 
citement and of considerable indignation in the region 
round about, and the impressionable young girl who after- 
wards became Mrs. Eddy must have heard and seen much 
of these stfange doings. While Shakerism and Christian 
Science are not closely connected, yet they have many 
points of affinity and contact. The Shakers always 
prayed to *'Our Father and Mother which art in heaven," 
while Mrs. Eddy's "spiritually interpreted" version of 
The Lord's Prayer begins, '*Our Father-Mother God." 
The Shakers proclaimed Ann Lee to be the woman of 
the Apocalypse, and Mrs. Eddy made the same suggestion 
with reference to herself. The Shakers called Ann Lee 
"Mother," and Mrs. Eddy arrogated this name to her- 
self and forbade her followers to bestow it upon others, 
although afterwards she withdrew the privilege of apply- 
ing it to herself and denied that she had ever authorized 
such use. The Shakers claimed that Ann Lee was in- 
spired, and Mrs. Eddy made the same claim. Ann Lee 
declared that she had the gift of healing, and this was 
Mrs. Eddy's chief stock in trade. The Shakers called 
their organization "The Church of Christ," and Mrs. 
Eddy adopted this name with the addition of "Scientist." 
The Shakers forbade audible prayer, and Mrs. Eddy dis- 
approved of it and has none of it, except The Lord's 
Prayer with her "interpretation" of it,Jn her services. 



18 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Ann Lee enjoined celibacy, and Mrs. Eddy, though 
practicing marriage Hberally herself, discouraged it in 
others. 1 

Andrew Jackson Davis, born in Orange County, N. Y., 
in 1826, was a clairvoyant and magnetic healer and later 
a spiritualist, who attained notoriety as a traveling 
lecturer, and published several volumes setting forth his 
doctrines and methods of healing. He used in a peculiar 
sense such terms as * 'truth," * 'error," and especially 
"principle," in very much the same way as they were 
adopted as characteristic terms in Mrs. Eddy's teaching. 
"Truth," he says, "is positive principle; error is a negative 
principle." "Power, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy, 
truth, are the gradual developments of an eternal and 
internal principle, constituting the divine, original es- 
sence." He taught that Christ employed animal mag- 
netism in making cures, and that to dispel disease the 
divine principle has provided certain remedial agents. 2 
Dr. Warren F. Evans, in a work entitled "Mental Medi- 
cine" and published three years before the first edition 
of Mrs. Eddy's book "Christian Science," said: "Disease 
being in its root a wrong belief, change that belief and we 
cure the disease. By faith we are thus made whole." ^ 
He will appear later in this study. 

Another remarkable man was Thomas Lake Harris, 
born in 1823, who established a community at Brocton, 
N. Y., fell into trances, and spoke rhapsodically by in- 
spiration, discouraged marriage as a "terrible" thing, 
and had strange hypnotic power over his followers, even 

1 See Clara Endicott Sears, Gleanings from Old Quaker Journals, 
and Milmine, Historyy pp. 494, 495. 

2 Milmine History, pp. 489, 493. 

3 Ibid, p. 483. 



THE SUBSOIL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 19 

captivating and enslaving Lady Oliphant and her well- 
known son Laurence Oliphant. ^ 

Joseph Smith, born in 1805 at Sharon, Vt., of il- 
literate and neuropathic parents, and who became dis- 
satisfied with the clash of creeds at Palmyra, N. Y., 
whither his parents had removed in 1815, began to have 
^'visions" and the "Book of Mormon" was produced 
which was the start of Mormonism, another religious 
vagary with roots running back into New England. 
Mormonism and Christian Science have many points of 
aflSnity. Both sprang from the same region at about the 
same time out of the same social and religious conditions; 
both had founders of neurotic, physical constitution and 
hysterical temperament, who had very meager education 
and claimed to receive divine revelations; both have an 
alleged inspired book or bible, and both of these books, 
it is charged, were plagiarized by their authors from other 
writings; both claim to be a later revelation and higher 
form of Christianity; both hold peculiar views on the 
marriage relation; and both in their practices have come 
into conflict with the civil law. 

In the meanwhile mesmerism was spreading like wild- 
fire over New England. Charles Poyen, a French disciple 
of Mesmer, traveled through the region lecturing and 
performing feats of mesmeric influence in the same towns 
in which Mary Baker then lived. In 1837 he published 
"Animal Magnetism," in which he called his system 
"Truth," "the Power of Mind over Matter," a "demon- 
stration," a "discovery given of God" and a "science."^ 

^ Podmore, Mesmerism and Christian Science, Ch. XIII. 
2 Milmine, History, p. 23. 



20 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

The teaching and work of P. P. Quimby, the faith healer 
of Portland, Me., will be considered later. 

The excitement over the alleged spirit rappings of the 
Fox sisters at Rochester, N. Y., broke out in 1853 and 
spread through New York and New England. Alleged 
"'mediums" multiplied and "communications" from de- 
parted spirits became a common belief and practice. 
Judge Edmonds, of the Supreme Court of New York, 
and Dr. Dexter, an eminent physician of New York City, 
investigated the subject and published a work that 
became an authority and gave wide currency and respect- 
ability to belief in the system. 

'Thus in the '30's," to quote Miss Milmine, "the first 
wave of mental science, animal magnetism, and clair- 
voyance swept over New England. The atmosphere was 
charged with the occult, the movement ranging all the 
way from phrenology and mind-reading to German 
transcendentalism. Quimby's interest was directly stim- 
ulated by the visit of Charles Poyen, the well-known 
French mesmerist, who came to lecture in Belfast (Me.). 
The inquiring clock maker became absorbed in Poyen's 
theories, formed his acquaintance, and followed him from 
town to town. . . Then, as now, the public mind as- 
sociated occult sciences with the cure of physical disease. 
Clairvoyants, magnetisers, and mind readers treated all 
imaginable ills. . . Hundreds of men, women, and 
children, Vhose cases the doctors had given up as hope- 
less,' fervently testified to their power. Consumptives, 
according to popular report, began to get well, the blind 
saw, and the halt walked. "^ 

This state of things in New England was the soil out of 

1 History y pp. 45, 46. 



THE SUBSOIL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 21 

which Christian Science grew, the environment in which 
Mary Baker was reared, the atmosphere she breathed, 
the mental and reUgious influences that unconsciously- 
molded and colored her highly nervous, neurotic, im- 
pressionable nature. Christian Science had its roots 
in this soil; both the founder and the faith are the proper 
fruits of such seeds. 



CHAPTER III 

LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 

The following is a rapid outline of the life of the remark- 
able woman who was the founder of Christian Science 
and the veritable incarnation of the whole system. It 
takes a large volume to trace all the windings and dis- 
entangle all the knots in her strangely checkered career, 
and only the more important points can be touched on 
here. 

1. EARLY YEARS 

Mary A. Morse Baker, the youngest of the six children 
of Mark and Abigail Ambrose Baker, was born July 
16, 1821, in Bow township, near Concord, New Hampshire. 
The parents were members of the Congregational Church, 
and the father was a man of narrow mind and dogmatic 
temper who pushed his opinions on other people and had 
a conscience that gave great trouble to his neighbors. 
The mother was of a quiet disposition and faithfully 
attended to her home cares and church duties. The 
family were in meager circumstances, and hard work on 
a lonely farm in the days when there were no railroads 
and few newspapers was the daily routine of their life. 

Mary early attracted attention as a beautiful and bright 
child, but even in infancy she was subject to attacks of 
a hysterical nature. The irascibility of her father came 
out in her in intensified temper and weakened self-control. 
The family soon learned that they must yield to her whims, 
and all rules were in abeyance when she had one of her 

22 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 23 

"fits." The Sabbath was an especially dangerous day 
with her, and even her domineering father had then to 
relax some of his rules, "'for she invariably had one of her 
bad attacks, and the day ended in excitement and anxiety." 
"Mrs. Baker, the mother, often told her friends that 
Mary, of all her children, was the most difficult to care 
for, and they were all at their wits' end to keep her quiet 
and amuse her."i g]2e attended the district school for 
a short time, but on account of her peculiar disposition 
she was allowed to stop and went no more until she had 
reached her fifteenth year. 

In her autobiography, "Retrospection and Introspec- 
tion," Mrs. Eddy relates, as her chief remembrance of 
the Bow farm days, the following incident: 

For some twelve months, when I was about eight years old, I 
repeatedly heard a voice, calling me distinctly by name, three times, 
in an ascending scale. I thought this was my mother's voice, and 
sometimes went to her, beseeching her to tell me what she wanted. 
Her answer was always: **Nothing, child! What do you mean?" 
Then I would say: "Mother, who did call me? I heard somebody 
call *Mary' three times!" This continued until I grew discouraged, 
and my mother was perplexed and anxious. 

The similarity to the call of the child Samuel, I Sam., 
ch. 3, is obvious, and Mrs. Eddy completes the parallel 
as follows: 

My mother read to me the Scriptural narrative of little Samuel, 
and bade me, when the voice called again, to reply as he did, **Speak, 
Lord; for thy servant heareth." The voice came; but I did not 
answer. Afterward I wept, and prayed that God would forgive me, 
resolving to do, next time, as my mother had bidden me. When 
the call came again I did answer, in the words of Samuel, but never 
again to the material senses was that mysterious call repeated. 2 

1 These and other quotations without references are from Miss 
Milmine's History. 

2 Retrospection and Introspection, pp. 8, 9. 



24 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Mark Baker lived on the Bow farm from 1785 to 1836) 
and then removed to Tilton (then Sanborton Bridge) 
eighteen miles north of Concord, where he lived until his 
death in 1865. Here Mary again went to the district 
school, and as she was backward in her studies she was 
placed in a class with younger children. Miss Milmine 
interviewed a number of her classmates and quotes one 
of them as follows: *'I remember Mary Baker very well," 
said one of her classmates living (1907) in Tilton. 
"She began to come to district school in the early summer 
of 1836. I recollect her very distinctly because she sat 
just in front of me, and because she was such a big girl 
to be in our class. I was only nine, but I helped her 
with her arithmetic when she needed help. We studied 
Smith's Grammar and ciphered by ourselves in Adam's 
New Arithmetic, and when she left school in three or 
four weeks we had both reached long division. She left 
on account of sickness." 

Turning to "Retrospection and Introspection," we 
read Mrs. Eddy's own account of these days. She says 
that she was kept out of school because her father was 
taught to believe that her brain was too large for her 
body; that her brother Albert, then a student in college, 
taught her Greek, Latin, and Hebrew; that her favorite 
childhood studies were natural philosophy, logic, and 
moral science; that at ten years of age she was as familiar 
with Lindley Murray's Grammar as with the Westminster 
Catechism; and that she graduated from Dyer H. San- 
born's Academy at Tilton. Her schoolmates when inter- 
viewed by Miss Milmine could not reconcile these state- 
ments with their own knowledge. They do not believe 
her brother taught her Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, for 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 25 

he entered college when Mary was nine and left home 
when she was thirteen years old. Dyer H. Sanborn 
did not conduct an "academy'* and there were no *'grad- 
uations" from it; and they insist that Mary left school 
when she had only reached long division. Mrs. Eddy 
further says in her autobiography, "After my discovery 
of Christian Science, most of the knowledge I had gleaned 
from schoolbooks vanished like a dream"! As she never 
gave any indication of ever having possessed any knowl- 
edge of "Hebrew, Greek, and Latin," "natural philosophy, 
logic, and moral science," it is evident that her belief 
or claim that she once had such learning was a dream 
also. "Learning was so illumined," she continues, "that 
grammar was eclipsed." There is plenty of evidence of 
this in her own unassisted writings. "Etymology was 
divine history, voicing the idea of God in man's origin 
and signification." Her "spiritual sense, which is also 
their original meaning" of words as given in her "Glossary" 
in "Science and Health," is always purely fanciful and 
often screamingly ridiculous. "Syntax was spiritual order 
and unity." Her syntax may have been "spiritual," 
but it certainly was not grammatical. "Prosody, the 
song of angels, and no earthly inglorious theme." If 
angels sang in her prose, they refused to do so in her 
"poetry."! 

One other incident in these earliest years may be 
mentioned. She tells us that "at the age of twelve years 
I was admitted to the Congregational (Trinitarian) 
Church." She had a horror of the doctrine of predesti- 
nation and denied it before the deacons of the church. 
"Distinctly do I recall what followed. I stoutly main- 

^ Retrosj)ection and Introspection, p. 10. 



26 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

tained that I was willing to trust God, and take my chance 
of spiritual safety with my brothers and sisters — not one 
of whom had then made any profession of religion. . . 
This was so earnestly said, that even the oldest church- 
members wept. After the meeting was over they came 
and kissed me. To the astonishment of many, the good 
clergyman's heart was melted, and he received me into 
their communion, and my protest along with me.'' Her 
recollection is "distinctly" vivid as to details, but on 
the one concrete fact wherein it can be tested, she is wrong. 
Instead of being twelve she was seventeen years of age 
at this time. The official record of the Tilton Congre- 
gational Church contains this entry: *'1838. July 26, 
Received into this church, Stephen Grant, Esq., John 
Gilly and his wife Hannah, Mrs. Susan French, wife of 
William French, Miss Mary A. M. Baker, by profession, 
the two former receiving the ordinance of baptism. 
Greenaugh McQuestion, Scribe."^ Why was this incident 
put at the age of twelve years.? The visit of Jesus to 
the Temple at the same age may have suggested another 
parallel. 

Through these early years the hysterical, cataleptic 
nature of Mary Baker continued to give anxiety to the 
Baker household and to be a subject of general talk in the 
neighborhood. On this point Miss Milmine writes- 

At home Mary was still allowed to have her own way as com- 
pletely as in her baby days. Indeed, by this time she, as well as 
the family, had come to consider this privilege a natural right, and 
she grew constantly more insistent in her demands upon her parents 
and brothers and sisters, who had found by long experience that 
the only way to live at all with Mary was to give in to all her whims. 
. . . Mary's hysteria was, of course, her most effective argument 

1 Milmine, History, p. 20. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 27 

in securing her way. Like the sword of Damocles, it hung perilously 
over the household, which constantly surrendered and conceded 
and made shift with Mary to avert the inevitable climax. . . 
These attacks, which continued until very late in life, have been 
described to the writer by many eyewitnesses, some of whom have 
watched by her bedside and treated her in Christian Science for her 
affliction. Mary fell headlong to the floor, writhing and screaming 
in apparent agony. Again she dropped as lifeless, and lay limp 
and motionless, until restored. At other times she became rigid 
like a cataleptic, and continued for a time in a state of suspended 
animation. . . Nothing had the power of exciting Mark Baker 
like one of Mary's *'fits," as they were called. His neighbors in 
Tilton remember him as he went to fetch Dr. Ladd, how he lashed 
his horse down the hill, standing upright in his wagon and shouting 
in his tremendous voice, "Mary is dying.'* ... A neighbor, 
passing the house one morning, stopped at Mark's gate and in- 
quired why Mary, who was at that moment rushing wildly up and 
down the second-story piazza, was so excited; to which Mark replied 
bitterly: **The Bible says Mary Magdalen had seven devils, bat 
our Mary has got ten." ^ 

It was in these days that Charles Poyen, the French 
mesmerist, appeared as a lecturer in the neighborhood of 
Tilton, and while it is not known that Mary Baker heard 
him personally, she must have heard about him and his 
theories and practice, because of the fact that **Animal 
Magnetism" came to occupy a large place in her own 
teaching and life. The influences of Shakerism and 
transcendentalism and other peculiar cults that were 
then rife in New England were also in the air and must 
have reached and left their impress on her sensitive and 
absorbent nature. She grew up in a kind of hotbed of 
"isms," and her life was the proper outgrowth of such a 
nature in such an environment. 

2. EARLY MARRIAGES 

In December, 1843, at the age of twenty-two Mary 
Baker was married to George Washington Glover, who 

1 History, pp. 19, 20. 



28 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

is described as "a big, kind-hearted, young fellow," whose 
parents were neighbors of the Bakers at Bow. "Wash" 
Glover was a bricklayer and, attracted by higher wages, 
had gone South. On one of his visits back home he 
married Mary Baker and took her as his bride to Wil- 
mington, N. C. Within six months, in June, 1844, the 
young husband died of yellow fever and left his widow 
without money among strangers. The Freemasons, 
to whose order George Glover belonged, provided the 
means for the funeral and for the return of the widow to 
her parents' home at Tilton. 

In September of the same year Mrs. Glover gave birth 
to a son, her only child, whom she named George Wash- 
ington after his father. The relation of the mother to 
this son is one of the peculiar things in Mrs. Eddy's 
career. Her sisters and brothers were now married and 
gone from home, and her parents were growing old. 
Mrs. Glover "took it for granted that she was to receive 
not only sympathy of her relatives but their support 
and constant service, and that they should assume the 
care of her child." She frequently left it with her aged 
parents or with her married sister, or with a neighbor 
woman, while she went off visiting. The child annoyed 
her irritable nature, and her father said, "Mary acts 
like an old ewe that won't own its lamb. She won't 
have the boy near her." 

When the boy was seven years old the mother gave 
him to Mahala Sanborn, who had served as a nurse 
in the family, and, when this worthy woman was married 
to Russell Cheney and was about to move from Tilton, 
she begged her to take the boy with her. The Cheneys 
lived for a time at Groton, N. H., where Mrs. Glover 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 29 

would see her son occasionally, but in 1857 they removed to 
Enterprise, Minn. In 1861 George W. Glover enlisted 
in the Union Army and made an excellent record as a 
soldier, and afterwards settled in Lead, S. D., where 
he was appointed United States marshall. Mrs. Eddy 
never saw her son after his removal to the West at the 
age of thirteen until 1878, when he was thirty-four years 
of age and was married and had two children. 

Mrs. Eddy's own account of her relations with her son 
is given in "Retrospection and Introspection" as follows: 

A few months before my father's second marriage, . . my little 
son, about four years of age, was sent away from me, and put under 
the care of our family nurse, who had married, and resided in the 
northern part of New Hampshire. I had no training for self- 
support, and my home I regarded as very precious. The night 
before my child was taken from me, I knelt by his side throughout 
the dark hours, hoping for a vision of relief from this trial. . . My 
dominant thought in marrying again was to get back my child, 
but after our marriage his stepfather was not willing he should 
have a home with me. A plot was consummated for keeping us 
apart. The family to whose care he was committed, very soon 
removed to what was then regarded as the Far West. After his 
removal a letter was read to my little son informing him that his 
mother was dead and buried. Without my knowledge he was 
appointed a guardian, and I was then informed that my son was 
lost. Every means within my power was employed to find him, 
but without success. We never met again until he had reached the 
age of thirty-four, had a wife and two children, and by a strange 
providence had learned that his mother still lived, and came to see 
me in Massachusetts. ^ 

However, when her son did want to come to visit her 
he received small encouragement. In fact, she wrote 
him a letter in which she positively forbade him to come, 
and said, "If you come after getting this letter I shall 
feel you have no regard for my interest or feelings, which 

1 Pp. 20. 21. 



30 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

I hope not to be obliged to feel." This was in 1907. 
In 1902 Mrs. Eddy built her son a handsome house and 
otherwise provided for him. In 1907, for some reason 
she tried to get from her son all the letters she had ever 
written him, saying: "My dear Son: The enemy to 
Christian Science is by the wickedest powers of hypnotism 
trying to do me all the harm possible by acting on the 
minds of people to make them lie about me and my 
family." She then asked him to "send by express all 
the letters of mine that I have written you. This will 
be a great comfort to your mother if you do it. Send 
all — all of them." This letter with its peculiar request 
appears to have been occasioned by the fact that her son 
was about to bring action against ten leading Christian 
Scientists on the ground that they were controlling her 
property and that she through age and failing faculties 
was incompetent to manage it. Mrs. Eddy met this 
by placing her property in the hands of trustees, and 
several months later the suit was withdrawn. With this 
incident is closed our account of the relations of Mrs. 
Eddy with her son. 

In these early years of her life spiritualism swept in 
a wave over the region, and Mrs. Glover developed fier 
susceptibility as a medium. Seances were held at Mark 
Baker's house and there was considerable excitement 
over the strange phenomena. One elderly woman recalls 
a night spent with Mrs. Glover when her rest was fre- 
quently disturbed by mysterious "rappings" and by Mrs. 
Glover's announcements of the "appearance" of different 
spirits as they came and went. A few years later she 
received ^'messages" from her deceased brother Albert. 
Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health," second edition, 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 31 

(1878), denied that she ever was a medium, but said, 
"We have explained to the class calling themselves 
Spiritualists how their signs and wonders were wrought, 
and have illustrated them by doing them/'l At this 
time also Mrs. Glover began to do some writing and 
* 'there was a tradition that she wrote a love story for 
'Godey's Lady's Book,* and this gave her some local 
fame as an ^authoress/" 

In 1853 after having been a widow for nine years 
and at the age of thirty-two Mrs. Glover was married to 
Daniel Patterson, a peripatetic dentist who made oc- 
casional visits to Tilton. Mrs. Glover was so ill on the 
day of the wedding that Dr. Patterson had to carry 
her downstairs for the ceremony and then back again. 
He is described as a handsome man with a full black 
beard, who wore a frock coat and a silk hat and was 
popular with his patrons. Nevertheless he earned only 
a meager and precarious income, and their married life 
was a struggle with hard circumstances. They first 
settled in Franklin, a village near Tilton. 

The Pattersons moved from place to place, leaving 
behind them a trail of stories about Mrs. Patterson's 
invalidism and hysteria and "fits" and quarrels with her 
neighbors. 2 During the Civil War Dr. Patterson went 
South seeking employment as an army surgeon and, stray- 
ing into enemy lines, was captured and held as a prisoner, 
and Mrs. Patterson again went back to her relatives. 
On his release and return the Pattersons settled in Lynn, 
Mass., where the doctor opened an office in 1864. Two 
years later Dr. Patterson left his wife, and they never 

1 Milmine, History, pp. 30, ^Q, 

2 Ibid, History, p. 38. 



32 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

lived together again. Mrs. Eddy, in a published state- 
ment in the Boston Post, of March 7, 1883, said that her 
"'husband had eloped with a married woman," but her 
neighbors never heard of such an elopement, and Dr. 
Patterson told her family that he could not endure her 
any longer. Dr. Patterson paid his wife an annuity of 
$200 for several years, but in 1873 she obtained a divorce 
from him, and he dropped out of her life, dying in 1896. 
It was while living with Dr. Patterson that Mrs. 
Patterson heard of Dr. P. P. Quimby, the mind healer 
of Portland, Me., and went to him and received help 
from him for her illness and also derived from him her 
ideas, but this affair in her life is so important that it 
will be reserved for a separate chapter, and this outline 
will be continued as a framework for the events more 
directly connected with her main work. 

S. WANDER YEARS 

Mrs. Patterson jSrst visited Quimby in 1862 and again 
in 1864, and then after her separation from her husband 
she wandered around staying with various families Until 
she settled in Lynn in 1870. The story of these years is 
one of a constant succession of quarrels in these homes. 
Although only a visitor occasionally paying a nominal 
rent, yet she was extremely exacting in her demands, 
doing no work and requiring everyone to serve her. 
"Untrained in any kind of paid work, she fell back upon 
the favor of her friends or chance acquaintances, living 
precariously upon their bounty, and obliged to go from 
house to house, as one family after another wearied of 
her." During these years she was practicing healing 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 33 

herself, calling it ''Moral Science" and attributing it 
to Quimby. Her first announcement appeared in the 
Banner of Light, a Spiritualist organ, on July 4, 1868, 
and read in part: ''Any Person desiring to learn how to 
heal the sick can receive of the undersigned instructions 
that will enable them to commence healing on a principle 
of science with a success far beyond any of the present 
modes. . . Address, Mrs. Mary B. Glover, Amesbury, 
Mass." In all her teaching she represented her system as 
being that of P. P, Quimby, as will be brought out later on. 
When her husband left her at Lynn, Mrs. Patterson 
went to room at the Russells, but she soon had to leave 
because Russell's "wife, who had greatly admired her 
when she first came, soon declared she could not endure 
Mrs. Patterson's remaining there." She then went to 
Mrs. Clark, and then to the home of Mrs. Armenius 
Newhall, but soon afterward .left the house, at Mrs. 
Newhall's request. Mrs. James Wheeler, of Swampscott, 
*'then offered her shelter," where, according to an affidavit 
of Mrs. Julia Walcott, a sister of Mrs. Patterson's former 
landlord and an intimate friend of Mrs. Wheeler, "Mrs. 
Patterson was the means of creating discord in the Wheeler 
family." From the Wheelers she went to live with Mrs. 
Mary Ellis, and next we find her with Hiram Craft at 
East Stoughton, where, according to an affidavit of Ira 
Holmes, a brother of Mrs. Craft, "she caused trouble in 
the household, and urged Mr. Craft to get a bill of divorce 
from his wife, Mary Craft." She then went to the home 
of Captain Webster, in Amesbury, Mass. A long affidavit 
by Mary Bartlett, a granddaughter of Captain Webster, 
gives an account of her trouble-making in this home, 
which at last grew so exasperating that Captain Webster's 



34 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

son put Mrs. Patterson out of the house and locked the 
door against her. 

The friendless woman was then taken into the home of 
Miss Sarah Bageley, a dressmaker and SpirituaHst of 
Amesbury, Mrs. Patterson teaching her the Quimby 
method of heaUng. By this time it was understood 
that Mrs. Glover, who had now again adopted this name, 
was writing a book, and she was working at manuscripts 
which eventually resulted in "'Science and Health." 
From Amesbury she drifted to Stoughton, Mass., to the 
home of Mrs. Sally Wentworth, another Spiritualist, where 
she had the usual quarrel and on leaving was charged 
with having tried to set the house on fire.l 

While with the Wentworths Mrs. Glover was writing 
manuscripts, and she wrote out instructions for Mrs. 
Wentworth, to direct her in healing the sick. Horace 
T. Wentworth, a son, had these instructions in Mrs. 
Glover's own handwriting in his possession when Miss 
Milmine wrote her " History " and she gives two pages 
from the original manuscript, literally reproducing the 
spelling and punctuation. We here insert them as they 
contain the germ of Mrs. Eddy's system and also show 
her unassisted English style: 

An argument for the sick having what is termed fever chills and 
heat with sleepless nights, and called spinal inflammation. 

The patient has been doctoring the sick one patient is an opium 
eater, with catarrh, great fear of the air, etc. Another had inflam- 
mation of the joints or rheumatism, and liver complaint another 
scrofula and rheumatism, and another dyspepsia, all of them having 
the most intense fear. 

First the fever is to be argued down. What is heat and chills 
we answer nothing but an effect produced upon the body by images 

1 Affidavits giving the details of this affair made by a son and a 
niece of Mrs. Wentworth are given in Milmine, History, p. 125. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 35 

of disease before the spiritual senses wherefore you must say of 
heat and chill you are not hot you are not cold you are only the 
effect of fright there is no such thing as heat and cold if there were 
you would not grow hot when angry or abashed or frightened and 
the temperature around not changed in the least. 

Inflammation is not inflammation or redness and soreness of any 
part this is your belief only and this belief is the red dragon the 
King of beasts which means this belief of inflammation is the leading 
lie out of which you get your fright that causes chills and heat. 
Now look it down cause your patient to look at this truth with you 
call upon their spiritual senses to look with your view which sees no 
such image and thus waken them out of their dream that is causing 
them so much suffering, i 

These years were strewn with a constant succession of 
personal quarrels and estrangements. After the death 
of Mark Baker, Mrs. Eddy's father, in 1865, her own 
sister, Mrs. Tilton, closed her door against her. On this 
point Miss Milmine writes: 

When Mrs. Tilton, who had taken care of Mrs. Patterson from 
childhood and supported her in her widowhood, finally turned 
against her sister, she was as hard as she had been generous before. 
"I loved Mary best of all my sisters and brothers," she said to her 
friends, "but it is all gone now." The bitterness of her feeling 
lasted to the day of her death. She instructed her family not to 
allow Mary to see her after death nor to attend her funeral, and her 
wishes were carried out. 2 

When the Christian Science Church in Concord, N. H., 
was dedicated on July 16, 1904, a North Groton corre- 
spondent, under the head, "Time Makes Changes," 
wrote in the 'Tlymouth Record'': 

With the dedication of the Christian Science Church at Concord, 
the gift of Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy, the thoughts of 
many of the older residents have turned back to the time when 
Mrs. Eddy, as the wife of Daniel Patterson, lived in this place. 

1 Milmine, History, pp. 130, 131" 

2 Ibid, p. 108. 



36 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

These people remember the woman at that time as one who carried 
herself above her fellows. With no stretch of the imagination they 
remember her ungovernable temper and hysterical ways, and partic- 
ularly well do they remember the night ride of one of the citizens 
who went for her husband to calm her in one of her unreasonable 
moods. The Mrs. Eddy of to-day is not the Mrs. Patterson of then, 
for this is a sort of Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll case, and the woman 
is now credited with many charitable and kindly acts.^ 

From the Wentworths in Stoughton Mrs. Glover 
returned to her friend, Miss Bageley in Amesbury, where 
two years before she had met with Richard Kennedy, 
then a youth of eighteen, and had discerned in him a 
promising student and had given him lessons in the 
Quimby art of healing. She now proposed to him a 
partnership in which she would teach and he would practice 
this art. Up to this time she had little success herself 
in healing, and in fact she was chary of trying her hand 
at the business down to the end of her life. This ar- 
rangement was entered into, and this agreement marked 
a turning point in Mrs. Eddy's life and brought these 
troubled wander years to an end. 

4. AT WORK IN LYNN 

In June, 1870, a sign appeared in the yard in front of 
a house in Lynn, bearing the announcement, "Dr. 
Kennedy." Several rooms on the second floor had been 
sublet from a young woman who conducted a school on 
the first floor. Kennedy used the front room as an 
office, and Mrs. Glover occupied the other rooms as her 
living quarters and as a schoolroom for her pupils, her 
card bearing the announcement, "Mrs. Mary Glover, 
Teacher of Moral Science." Soon patients began to 

1 Milmine, History , pp. 35, 36. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 37 

appear in Dr. Kennedy's office and students in Mrs. 
Glover's classes, and for the first time in her life Mary 
Baker Glover began to be eased of the burden of poverty 
and to experience the joys of prosperity. Her students 
were required to copy a Quimby manuscript which she 
called "The Science of Man," and they obligated them- 
selves to pay one hundred dollars in advance for the course 
of lessons and ten per cent of their annual income from 
their practice. 

For twelve years Mrs. Eddy continued her work in 
Lynn, until she removed to Boston in 1882. These were 
trying years in many ways and brought out the masterful 
qualities of her strange personaUty. She was nearly 
fifty years of age, with no means or influential friends 
and with very meager education, and was biu'dened 
and often tortured with ill health, when she found herself 
and started out on her course that was destined to grow 
into a great career and world-wide fame. During these 
years she developed her system of healing and wrote her 
book "Science and Health,'* the first edition of which 
she was able to get published in 1875. Her classes grew, 
her charges increased from one hundred to three hundred 
dollars for a course of twelve lessons and then the course 
was reduced to seven lessons for the same price, and gold 
began to flow in copious streams into her coffers; 
within eighteen months she had $6000 to her credit 
in the bank. She began to extend her private teaching 
to public speaking and at length developed her system 
of healing into a religion and founded a church. At 
last she assumed the office of minister and blossomed 
out as the "Rev. Mary Baker Eddy," only stopping 
short of appending a *'D. D." to her name. She was 



38 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

already dreaming of a great religion and world fame, 
and one day she said to Kennedy, "Richard, you will 
live to hear the chm^ch bells ring out my birthday/* 
Her dream came true. 

At this time Miss Milmine gives us a vivid glimpse 
into her classroom: 



Whatever disagreement Mrs. Glover had with individual students, 
their number constantly increased, and for every deserter there were 
several new adherents. Her following grew not only in numbers 
but in zeal; her influence over her students and their veneration of 
her were subjects of comment and astonishment in Lynn. Of some 
of them it could be truly said that they lived only for and through 
Mrs. Glover. They continued to attend in some manner to their 
old occupations, but they became like strangers to their own families, 
and their personalities seemed to have undergone an eclipse. Like 
their teacher, they could talk of only one thing and had but one 
vital interest. One disciple let two of his three children die under 
metaphysical treatment without a murmur. Another married the 
woman whom Mrs. Glover designated. . . The closer students, who 
constituted Mrs. Glover's cabinet and bodyguard, executed her com- 
missions, transacted her business, and were always at her call. To-day 
some of these who have long been accounted as enemies by Mrs. 
Eddy, and whom she has anathematized in print and discredited 
on the witness stand, still declare that what they got frOm her was 
beyond equivalent in gold or silver. They speak of a certain 
spiritual or emotional exaltation which she was able to impart in 
her classroom; a feeling so strong that it was like the birth of a new 
understanding and seemed to open to them a new heaven and a 
new earth. . . They lived by a new set of values; the color 
seemed to fade out of the physical world about them; men and 
women became shadow-like, and their humanity grew pale. The 
reality of pain and pleasure, sin and grief, love and death, once 
denied, the only positive thing in their lives was their belief — and 
that was almost wholly negation. 

6. ENTER: ASA GILBERT EDDY, THIRD HUSBAND 

Among those who came within the sphere of her at- 
traction was Daniel H. Spofford, a worker in a shoe factory, 
who became her student in 1875 and was soon "Dr. 

1 History, pp. 155, 156. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 39 

SpoflFord, Scientific Physician," and had a flourishing 
practice. Spofford brought Asa Gilbert Eddy to Mrs. 
Glover as a student, and presently he gave her the name 
that she took and made famous as the founder of a new 
reUgion. Eddy was a weaver and was described by people 
who knew him in Lynn '*as a quiet, dull, little man, 
docile and yielding up to a certain point, but capable of 
dogged obstinancy. He was short of stature, slow in 
his movements, and always taciturn." He was a bachelor 
who did his own washing and his sister-in-law said '*he 
could do up a shirt as well as any woman." This simple- 
minded plastic soul at once yielded to Mrs. Glover's 
magnetic personality and was presently her favorite so 
obviously as to excite comment and jealousy among 
the other students. On Sunday evening, December 31, 
1876, Eddy brought to Spofford a note which read as 
follows: "Dear Student: For reasons best known to 
myself I have changed my views in respect to marrying 
and ask you to hand this note to the Unitarian clergyman 
and please wait for an answer. Your teacher, M. B. G." 
"Hand or deliver reply to Dr. Eddy." 

Spofford was astonished out of measure and said: 
"You've been very quiet about all this, Gilbert." "Indeed, 
Dr. Spofford," said Eddy, "I didn't know a thing about 
it myself until last night." On looking at the marriage 
license Spofford noticed that the ages of both the bride 
and groom were put down at forty years. As he knew 
that Eddy himself was only forty but that Mrs. Glover 
was then fifty-six, "he remarked upon the inaccuracy, 
but Mr. Eddy explained that the statement of age was 
a mere formality and that a few years more or less was 
of no consequence." It will be remembered that Mrs. 



40 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Eddy also misstated her age at which she was received 
into the Congregational Church, and this was another 
instance in which "'a few years more or less was of no 
consequence.'* *'Dr." Eddy was a very useful addition 
to Mrs. Eddy's establishment. "He would solicit students 
for his wife or take up the collection at the Sunday service 
when she preached the sermon." "He did what he 
was told," and after his marriage he had plenty of it to do. 

6. LAWSUITS AT LYNN 

These years at Lynn were also marked by interminable 
quarrels and lawsuits. Her relations with Richard 
Kennedy lasted only two years, and she then regarded 
him as one of her bitterest enemies and poured upon him 
the vials of her wrath, charging him with exercising 
**Malicious Animal Magnetism" against her and branding 
him in the third edition of "Science and Health" as 
"the Nero of to-day." Next, Daniel H. Spofford, who 
had become the publisher of her book, fell under her dis- 
pleasure and was expelled from the Christian Scientists' 
Association, receiving the following notice: "Dr. D. H. 
Spofford of Newburyport has been expelled from the 
Association of Christian Scientists for immorality and as 
unworthy to be a member." The word "immorality" 
as used by Mrs. Eddy did not at all mean the sin that 
usually goes under that name, but only personal dis- 
agreement with her. This is only one of the instances 
in which she uses words in a sense wholly peculiar to 
herself. Years afterwards she accused a prominent woman 
in the mother church in Boston of being "an adulteress," 
and when the frantic woman begged to know the ground 



/ 



LIFE OF Mrs. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 41 

of such a charge, she rephed, "You have adulterated the 
Truth; what are you, then, but an adulteress?" It would 
take a long catalogue of names to mention all the students 
that met a like fate. Already she wa^ exercising the 
powers of an absolute despot and her simple and sudden 
word would dismiss anybody from her school or church 
and blacken the name of the victim with some grave but 
utterly unfounded charge. 

Lawsuits flew thick and fast. The air was surcharged 
with litigation. She brought suit against George Tuttle 
and Charles Stanley, two of her students, for unpaid 
tuition. The case was tried before Judge George F. 
Choate, and in rendering a decision for the defendant 
Judge Choate said: 



Upon a careful examination I do not find any instructions given 
by her nor any explanations of her "science" or "method of healing" 
which appear intelligible to ordinary comprehension, or which 
could in any way be of value in fitting defendant as a competent 
and successful practitioner of any intelligible art or method of 
healing the sick, and I am of the opinion that the consideration 
for the agreement has wholly failed, and I so find. 



This court decision is interesting as being the first 
legal evaluation of Christian Science. 

In 1877 George W. Barry, one of her students, brought 
suit against Mrs. Eddy for service rendered in attending 
to her business and obtained judgment against her. 
In 1878 she sued Richard Kennedy for two years' in- 
struction and lost. The same year she sued Daniel 
SpoflFord to recover royalty on his practice and lost. She 
lost every case brought for the recovery of tuition. ^ 

1 Peabody, Masquerade, p. 123. 



42 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

7. MALICIOUS ANIMAL MAGNETISM 

The case of Daniel Spofford, which was brought to 
trial at Salem, Mass., in May, 1878, introduces the subject 
of Malicious Animal Magnetism, which came to be known 
in the Eddy household as ''M. A. M.," and also as 
"Malicious Mesmerism." Every religion must have a 
devil, and ''M. A. M.'* was Mrs Eddy's Satan. By this 
name she meant the power of one mind, called by her 
''mortal mind," to influence and injure and even poison 
and drive insane and kill another mind. This notion 
became her obsession and infatuation that plagued her 
day and night, the mortal fear that tortured her and gave 
her no security and rest. It early became implanted in 
her mind, and in the first edition (1875) of "Science 
and Health" we read: 



In coming years the person or mind that hates his neighbor will 
have no need to traverse his fields, to destroy his flocks and herds, 
and spoil his vines; or to enter his house to demoralize his house- 
hold; for the evil mind will do this through mesmerism; and not in 
propria personae be seen committing the deed. Unless this terrible 
hour be met and restrained by science, mesmerism, that scourge of 
man, will leave nothing sacred when mind begins to act under 
direction of conscious power, l 



In the thirteenth edition of the same book she says 



The evidence of the power that the mind exercises over the body 
has accumulated in weight and clearness until it culminates, at this 
period, in scientific statement and proof. Our courts recognize the 
evidence that goes to prove the committal of crime; then, if it be 
clear that the so-called mind of one mortal has killed another, is not 
this mind proved a murderer, and shall not the man be sentenced 
whose mind, with malice aforethought, kills? 

1 Science and Health, 1875, p. 123. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 43 

This demon proved all its powers of ubiquitous presence 
and evil influence and malignant destructiveness in her 
own household. It bedeviled her printers, froze her 
water pipes, and made the boiler leak. It got into her 
household furniture and kitchen utensils, her coal and 
blankets and feather pillows and silver spoons and caused 
them to disappear as if by some magician's wand. She 
accused nearly all her servants of stealing and charged 
their perversity to "M. A. M." She would send servants 
to outlying towns to mail letters and dispatch telegrams 
so that they would not pass through Boston where the 
mail clerks and telegraph operators were supposed to be 
"mesmerized" and could poison the messages with their 
evil power. A long succession of tenants and housekeepers 
went wrong under the same evil influence. Any personal 
annoyance or irritation that she experienced was in- 
stantly charged to this devil. Friend after friend fell 
under this accusation and was forthwith excommunicated. 
No language could be bitter enough, no punishment 
could be dire enough to express her sense of the horror 
of this evil thing. ^ 

The first one to fall under this condemnation m its 
fell fury was Richard Kennedy, and the following passage 
from the chapter on "Demonology" in "'Science and 

1 This obsession as to the evil presence and power of the Devil was 
rampant in the Middle Ages and was one of the terrors of those 
dark days. "The highest authorities of the Church constantly 
nourished that awe of the Devil and his tools which filled the mind, 
and they could do it without scruple, being themselves seized by 
the same terror. Thus Pope John XXII promulgated, A.D. 1303, 
two letters in which he complains that he himself not less than 
countless numbers of his sheep, was in danger of his life by the acts 
of sorcerers who could send devils into mirrors and rings, and make 
away with men by their words alone." Viktor ftydberg. The 
Magic of the Middle Ages, p. 162. 



44 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Health," edition of 1881, was aimed at him and illustrates 
her style and spirit: 



The Nero of to-day, regaling himself through a mental method 
with the tortures of individuals, is repeating history, and will fall 
upon his own sword, and it shall pierce him through. Let him 
remember this when, in the dark recesses of thought, he is robbing, 
committing adultery, and killing; when he is attempting to turn 
friend away from friend, ruthlessly stabbing the quivering heart; 
when he is clipping the thread of life, and giving to the grave youth 
and its rainbow hues; when he is turning back the reviving sufferer 
to her bed of pain, clouding her first morning after years of night; 
and the Nemesis of that hour shall point to the tyrant's fate, who 
falls at length upon the sword of justice. 



And now we come to the case of Daniel Spofford. 
After her quarrel with him her hatred for him grew until 
it could no longer contain itself. "Accordingly," as Miss 
Milmine tells the story, "Mrs. Eddy got out a postscript 
to 'Science and Health.' The second edition, which 
Mr. Spofford had labored to prepare, was hastily revised 
and converted into a running attack upon him, hurried to 
press, labeled Volume II., and sent panting after 'Science 
and Health,* which was not labeled Volume I., and which 
had already been in the world three years. This odd 
little brown book, with the ark and troubled waves on 
the cover, is made up of a few chapters snatched from 
the 1875 edition, interlarded with vigorous rhetoric 
such as the following apostrophe to Spofford:" 



Behold! thou criminal mental marauder, that would blot out the 
sunshine of earth, that would sever friends, destroy virtue, put out 
truth, and murder in secret the innocent befouling thy track with 
the trophies of thy guilt — I say, **Behold the cloud no bigger than a 
man's hand,'* already rising in the horizon of truth, to pour down 
upon thy guilty head the hailstones of doom. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 45 

This "doom" came down upon "the guilty head" of 
Spofford in the form of a bill filed before the Supreme 
Judicial Court at Salem in the spring of 1878, charging 
him with practicing witchcraft upon one of Mrs. Eddy's 
former students, Lucretia L. S. Brown. Miss Brown was 
a maiden woman of fifty years of age, who was an invalid 
and had been healed by Christian Science and suffered 
a relapse. Mrs. Eddy persuaded her that Dr. Spofford 
was practicing "Malicious Animal Magnetism" upon her 
and that was the cause of her relapse; and she selected 
twelve of her students and trained them to serve as wit- 
nesses, saying to one of them, who protested at the railway 
station as they were about to take the train for Salem 
that she did not know anything about the case, "You 
will be told what to say." 

The case came to trial before a crowded court room, 
for it attracted great attention in the newspapers. Mr. 
SpofiFord did not appear, but his attorney filed a demurrer, 
which Judge Gray sustained, "declaring with a smile 
that it was not within the power of the court to control 
Mr. Spofford's mind." 

Miss Milmine concludes her detailed account of this 
celebrated case with these striking comments: 



So, after a lapse of nearly two centuries, another charge of witch- 
craft was made before the court in Salem village. But it was an 
anachronism merely, and elicited such ridicule that it was hard to 
realize that, because of charges quite as fanciful, one hundred and 
twenty-six persons were once lodged in Salem jail, nineteen persons 
were hanged, and an entire community was plunged into anguish 
and horror. 

During the long years that the grass had been growing and 
withering above the graves of Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse 
and their wretched companions, one of the most important of all 
possible changes had taken place in the world — a change in the 



46 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

mode of thinking. The works of Descartes, Locke, and Sir Isaac 
Newton had become a common inheritance; the relation of physical 
effect with physical cause had become established even in ignorant 
and unthinking minds, and a schoolboy of 1878 would have rejected 
as absurd the evidence upon which Judge Hawthorne condemned a 
woman like Mary Easty to death. ^ 



A jBtting climax and conclusion of Mr. SpoiBFord's 
relations with the Eddy people in Lynn came in a cele- 
brated case which was brought in the Municipal Court 
in December following the trial at Salem. To this case 
Miss Milmine devotes an entire chapter (ch. XIII) of 
her "History," giving part of the court records and of 
the testimony. Mr. Peabody gives an account of it 
from a lawyer's point of view (in ch. XI of his book), 
strongly hinting that Mrs. Eddy was back of the "con- 
spiracy," but Dr. Powell in his book (page 80) condenses 
it into a brief summary which is sufficient for our purpose 
and the writer here transcribes it: 



The last strange chapter in as strange a story as ever yet was 
told of Mrs. Eddy's strange career was the indictment the following 
December of Asa Gilbert Eddy, Mrs. Eddy's husband, and Edward 
J. Arens, one of her students, by the grand jury on the charge of 
conspiracy to murder Daniel H. Spofford. The evidence was 
dubious and inconsequential. No inference can to-day be drawn 
from it except that there was probably hysteria on one side and 
panic on the other. The case was nolle procsed, and never came to 
trial. Mr. Eddy paid the costs, and Mr. Spofford still lives (1907) 
and at the age of sixty-five enjoys the confidence of those who 
know him well. 



1 History, pp. 218-244. On Malicious Animal Magnetism, see 
also Powell, Christian Science, ch. VI, and Peabody, The Religio- 
Medical Masquerade, ch. XII. For an account of the belief in and 
the torture or witches, "which must forever be considered as among 
the most fearful calamities in human history," see A. D. White's 
History of the Warfare of Science with Theology, vol. I, pp. 350- 
363, II: 135-167. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 47 

Miss Wilbur also devotes to this case a chapter (ch. XVI) 
of her "'Life of Mary Baker Eddy,'* which virtually gives 
Mrs. Eddy's version of the affair, stating that the "mon- 
strous charge was thus dismissed without a trial," and de- 
ploring that ''the men accused were made to appear too 
insignificant in the world's affairs to warrant a full and 
clear exoneration." It seems to be a perplexing point 
in the case that Dr. Eddy was willing to pay the costs 
when it was dismissed. 

In closing this account of Mrs. Eddy's work at Lynn 
it will be sufficient to note that she organized the Christian 
Science Church in 1879 and her Metaphysical College 
in 1881. But the numerous quarrels and lawsuits and 
dissensions of the Christian Scientists made them un- 
popular in that city, "and to this day the Christian 
Science Church there has never prospered. . . They 
were constantly quarreling and bickering among them- 
selves, accusing each other of fraud, dishonesty, witch- 
craft, bad temper, greed of money, hypocrisy, and finally 
of a conspiracy to murder. Unquestionably Mrs. Eddy, 
as the accepted messenger of God, was more severely 
criticized for her part in these altercations than if she had 
appeared before the courts merely as a citizen of Lynn, 
and this criticism had much to do with the cloud of suspi- 
cion and distrust which hung over the Church when, in 
the early part of the winter of 1882, Mrs. Eddy left 
Lynn forever behind her and went to Boston."^ 

8. LIFE IN BOSTON 

Boston! the ''hub of the universe," the "literary Athens 
of America," redolent of memories of Emerson and Lowell 

1 Milmine, History, p. 279. 



48 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

and Holmes; the seat of Harvard University; the luminary 
that has emitted the cold, white light of Unitarianism and 
liberal thought ; distinguished from colonial days by eminent 
scholars and divines and statesmen and literary geniuses; 
Boston with all its literary and social exclusiveness and 
superiority and pride; that this city set on a hill should 
become the home and throne of Christian Science is surely 
the paradox and irony of history. How are the mighty 
fallen! If the light that is in Boston turn to darkness, 
how great is that darkness! 

The home and throne of Christian Science is what 
Boston became when Mary Baker Eddy, at the age of 
sixty-one years, set foot in its precincts and located her 
establishment on Columbus Avenue, afterwards trans- 
ferring it to the fashionable Commonwealth Avenue. 
On Columbus Avenue she set up her ''Massachusetts 
Metaphysical College," of which she herself was the 
entire faculty and in which she charged three hundred 
dollars for a course of seven lessons. Half a dozen of 
her students made their home with her, and the business 
of teaching on her part and of practicing on their part 
began in this city. 

In June of the same year the death of Dr. Eddy oc- 
curred, for death, which according to Mrs. Eddy and her 
''Science" is only a "false belief" and "delusion" and 
"myth" and "nothing," has never spared the followers 
of Mrs. Eddy, not even her own husbands. Mrs. Eddy 
had an autopsy performed by a regular physician, who 
pronounced the cause of death to be organic disease of 
the heart. "Dr. Rufus K. Noyes of Boston," says 
Mr. Peabody, "who performed the autopsy, tells me that, 
having removed the diseased organ from Mr. Eddy's 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 49 

breast, he exhibited it upon a platter to the sorrowing 
widow, who craved the ocular demonstration, and pointed 
out to her curious and eager inspection the precise cause 
of death in its diseased condition. And it was after, 
and notwithstanding, her close scrutiny of the physical 
heart that had so robustly throbbed with love for her, 
that, much to Dr. Noyes' amusement, Mrs. Eddy gave 
out the statement, to the extent of a column or more in 
the newspapers, that arsenical poison mentally admin- 
istered by absent treatment had in fact torn her loved 
one a third time, and finally, from her clinging grasp. "^ 
The following are several extracts from this interview 
which appeared in the Boston Post, June 5, 1882, the 
"Dr. Eastman" mentioned in it being one of Mrs. Eddy's 
students and not a graduate of any regular medical school: 



My husband's death was caused by malicious mesmerism. Dr. 
C. J. Eastman, who attended the case after it had taken an alarming 
turn, declares the symptoms to be the same as those of arsenical 
poisoning. On the other hand. Dr. Rufus K. Noyes, late of the 
City Hospital, who held an autopsy over the body to-day, affirms 
that the corpse is free from all material poisons, although Dr. East- 
man still holds to his original belief. I know it was poison that 
killed him, not material poison, but mesmeric poison. My husband 
was in uniform health, and but seldom complained of any kind of 
ailment. During his brief illness, just preceding his death, his 
continual cry was, "Only relieve me of this continual suggestion, 
through the mind, of poison, and I will recover.*' It is well known 
that by constantly dwelling upon any subject in thought finally 
comes the poison of belief through the whole system. . Oh, isn't 
it terrible, that this fiend of malpractice is in the land! The only 
remedy that is effective in meeting this terrible power possessed by 
the evil-minded is to counteract it by the same method that I use in 
counteracting poison. They require the same remedy. Circum- 
stances debarred me from taking hold of my husband's case. He 
declared himself perfectly capable of carrying himself through, and 
I was so entirely absorbed in business that I permitted him to try, 

1 Masquerade, p. 44 



50 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

and when I awakened to the danger it was too late. . . We all 
know that disease of any kind cannot reach the body except through 
the mind, and that if the mind is cured the disease is soon relieved. 
Only a few days ago I disposed of a tumor in twenty-four hours 
that the doctors had said must be removed by the knife. I changed 
the course of the mind to counteract the effect of the disease. This 
proves the myth of matter. 1 



It was really unfortunate for the poor husband that 
a wife with such power was "so entirely absorbed in 
business" that "circumstances debarred [her] from taking 
hold of [his] case." 

Soon after Mr. Eddy's death Mrs. Eddy called into 
her service Calvin A. Frye, who ever after played a large 
and intimate part in her life until her death. He was a 
striking exception among her many students and followers 
in that she did not quarrel with him and dismiss him 
peremptorily under a charge of "Malicious Mesmerism" 
or "Malpractice." He was a machinist employed at 
Lawrence, Mass., when at the age of twenty-seven he 
was summoned to come to Mrs. Eddy, from whom he 
had formerly received instruction. Writing in 1908, 
Miss Milmine gives the following summary account of him : 



For twenty-seven years Mr. Frye has occupied an anomalous 
position in Mrs. Eddy's household. He has been her house steward, 
bookkeeper, and secretary. When he attends her upon her cere- 
monial drives in Concord, he wears the livery of a footman. In a 
letter to her son, George Glover, written April 27, 1898, Mrs. Eddy 
describes Mr. Frye as her **man-of-all-work.'* Since Mrs. Eddy's 
retirement [1889] to Concord eighteen years ago, Calvin Frye has 
lived in an isolation almost as complete as her own, the object of 
surmises and insinuations. He has no personal friends outside of 
the walls of Pleasant View, and the oft-repeated assertion that in 
twenty-seven years he has not been beyond Mrs. Eddy's call for 
twenty-four hours is perhaps literally true. Although her treatment 

1 Milmine, History, pp. 286, 287. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 51 

of him has often been contemptuous in the extreme, his fidelity has 
been invaluable to Mrs. Eddy; but the actual donning of livery by 
a middle-aged man of some education and of sturdy, independent 
New England ancestry, is a difficult thing to understand. Whether 
he feels the grave charges which have recently been brought against 
him, or the ridicule of which he has long been the object, it is not 
likely that anyone will ever learn from Mr. Frye.^ 

Mr. Peabody offers like testimony as to the strange 
relations of this man and woman. "'He is," he says, *'her 
major-domo, master of ceremonies in her pretentious 
establishment, and director of her large retinue of assistant 
secretaries, literary experts, personal healers, mental 
protectors, and domestic servants. These positions Mr. 
Frye has adorned, as a resident member of Mrs. Eddy's 
family, occupying an adjoining room, for upwards of 
thirty years." For years he held the legal title of all her 
property down to the very jewels she wore, and this con- 
dition continued until Mr. Peabody, who was associate 
counsel in a legal case in connection with Mrs. Eddy's 
property, called attention to it and Mr. Frye reconveyed 
it to Mrs. Eddy. In view "of all these circumstances, 
taken with the confident opinion of one long a member of 
her household," Mr. Peabody, speaking with an inside 
knowledge of the facts, expresses his judgment of the 
relations of these two people, which anyone interested in 
knowing it can find recorded in his book. 2 

The seven years that Mrs. Eddy spent in Boston at the 
head of her complex and growing establishment, con- 
sisting of her household. Metaphysical College and church, 
were marked by the usual personal quarrels, church dis- 
sensions, lawsuits, and mesmeric monomania. The devil 

1 History, pp. 293, 294. 

2 Masquerade, pp. 45, 46. 



52 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

of *'M. A. M." was very busy in Boston and let no day 
pass without some visible mark of his presence and dis- 
pleasure. One who spent several years in her Boston 
household declares it was "a madhouse." Miss Milmine 
gives the following glimpse into it: 

The atmosphere of Mrs. Eddy's house derived its peculiar char- 
acter from her belief in malicious mesmerism, which exerted a 
sinister influence over everyone under her roof. Her students could 
never get away from it. Morning, noon, and night the thing had 
to be reckoned with, and the very domestic arrangements were 
ordered to elude or to combat the demoniacal power. If Mrs. Eddy 
had kept in her house a dangerous maniac or some horrible physical 
monstrosity which was always breaking from confinement and 
stealing around her chambers and hallways, it could scarcely have 
cast a more depressing anxiety over her household. Those of her 
students who believed in mesmerism were always on their guard 
with each other, filled with suspicion and distrust. If a member 
of that household denied the doctrine, or even showed a lack of 
interest in it, he was at once pronounced a mesmerist and requested 
to leave. Mr. Eddy's death had given malicious animal magnetism 
a new vogue. Mrs. Eddy was now always discovering in herself 
and her students symptoms of arsenical poisons or of other baneful 
drugs. Her nocturnal illnesses, which she had for years attributed 
to malicious mesmerism, were now more frequent and violent than 
ever.i 

In 1888, Mrs. Eddy at the age of sixty-eight adopted as 
her legal son Ebenezer Johnson Foster, a man of forty- 
one, who then became known as Ebenezer J. Poster Eddy. 
He was a homeopathic physician and Mrs. Eddy was 
glad to have a medically trained man in her service so 
that on occasion she could use him for her own purposes. 
Dr. Foster Eddy served her well for a time and became 
publisher of her books, but in time he was charged with 
being short in his accounts and with having conducted 
himself improperly with a married woman^ and Mrs. 

1 History, p. 301. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 53 

Eddy then sent him to Philadelphia to build up a church. 
When it was found that discreditable stories had followed 
him to that city Mrs. Eddy wrote to him: "Dear Doctor, 
I have silenced every word of the slander started in Boston 
about that woman by saying that I had not the least 
idea of any wrong conduct between you and her, for I 
know you are chaste. . . This silly stuff is dead. Always 
kindly yours, Mary Baker Eddy." Dr. Foster Eddy left 
Philadelphia, but he was aheady under suspicion with 
Mrs. Eddy, and soon after when he sought to see her, she 
"cut short the interview and went upstairs while he was 
speaking," and he drops out of this history. 

Mrs. Eddy was having almost constant trouble with 
her publishers and editors whom she appointed and dis- 
missed at her own arbitrary pleasure. In one letter she 
reprimanded W. G. Nixon, her publisher, for not aflSxing 
her name whenever he mentioned "Science and Health" 
in the Christian Science Journal, and in another letter 
reproof fell on his unlucky head for having omitted the 
title "Reverend" before her name. Mr. Nixon thought 
that the Journal should not be conducted simply as the 
personal organ of Mrs. Eddy and ventured to suggest to 
her that it would be more dignified to keep her name a 
little more in the background, but this drew from her the 
following note: 

Those who are trying to frighten you over my name at suitable 
intervals and who are crying personality are the very ones that 
persist in their purpose to keep my personality before the public 
through abusing it and to harness it to all the faults of other per- 
sonalities and make it responsible for them. But neither of these 
efforts disposes of personality nor handle it on the rule our Master 
taught nor deal with mortal personality scientifically. 

On Sept. 30, 1889, Mrs. Eddy wrote to Mr. Nixon, 



54 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

saying: "God our God has just told me who to recommend 
to you for the Editor of C. S. Jour, but you are not to 
name me in this transaction. It is Rev. Charles Ma- 
comber Smith, D. D., 164 Summer St., Somerville, Mass. 
. . . Get him sure." But before Mr. Nixon could act 
on this letter she wrote him again, saying, "I regret 
having named the one I did for Editor. It is a mistake, 
he is not fit. It was not God evidently that suggested 
that thought but the person who suggests many things 
mentally but I have before been able to discriminate I 
wrote too soon after it came to my thought." It thus 
appears that she was not always able to discriminate 
between God's revelation and the suggestion of her mes- 
meric devil "M. A. M." In these disputes Mrs. Eddy 
always had one argument that was unanswerable. Look- 
ing her opponent directly in the eye she would slowly say, 
''God has directed me in this matter. Have you any- 
thing further to say?" 

In the spring of 1889 Mrs. Eddy suddenly left Boston, 
driven out as she said by malicious mesmerism. This 
evil presence had filled and poisoned the whole city. Her 
mail, her clothes, her house were saturated with it. The 
very atmosphere had become so impregnated with it that 
she said it choked her. The only relief for her was 
''flight," escape anywhere to get away from Boston. The 
city of culture that had once attracted her now repelled 
her and sent her flying from it as for her very life. 



9. RETIREMENT AND CLOSING YEARS 

From Boston Mrs. Eddy went to Concord, N. H., 
where she lived in a beautiful home with surrounding 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 55 

grounds known as Pleasant View, from which she could 
look out over the hills among which lies the farm where 
she spent her childhood. In this retirement she lived 
nineteen years, but though withdrawn from public life 
she yet kept her hand on her church and all her affairs 
and even tightened her autocratic grip. Only four times 
during these years did she visit Boston. She ceased to 
teach and preach as long before she had ceased to give 
treatment to the sick; and she published a notice that no 
one must seek to consult her or write to her. Her followers 
would go out from Boston on pilgrimages to Pleasant 
View, where for a number of years she appeared to them 
on the occasion of the June communion. But she with- 
drew into ever closer seclusion and even published a 
prohibition forbidding her followers to linger on the road 
so as to see her as she went by in her carriage. Her life 
grew increasingly isolated and lonely, and writing to her 
son George Washington Glover in 1898 she said: '*Now 
what of my circumstances .f^ I name first my home, which 
of all places on earth is the one in which to find peace and 
enjoyment. But my home is simply a house and a 
beautiful landscape. There is not one in it that I love 
as I love everybody. I have no congeniality with my 
help inside of my house; there are no companions and 
scarcely fit to be my help.'* 

She was so closely guarded that her son came to believe 
that his letters were not reaching her and that Calvin 
Frye answered some of them. When he sent a letter to 
her by express he was notified that Mrs Eddy could not 
receive it except through her secretary Frye. Mr. Glover 
then brought action against ten leading Christian Scien- 
tists, as we have already related, when Mrs Eddy trans- 



56 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

ferred her property to a trusteeship, and then the action 
was withdrawn. 

On Sunday, January 26, 1908, Mrs. Eddy was taken 
on board a special train at Concord and removed to 
Newton, Mass., where a fine mansion had been bought 
and prepared for her. This removal was effected with 
great secrecy and precaution and was an utter surprise to 
her followers and the public. The reason for this final 
change of residence is given by Miss Milmine as follows: 

It is very probable that Mrs. Eddy left Concord for the same 
reason that she left Boston years ago; because she felt that malicious 
animal magnetism was becoming too strong for her there. The 
action brought by her son in Concord the previous summer she 
attributed entirely to the work of mesmerists who were supposed 
to control her son's mind. Mrs. Eddy always believed that this 
strange miasma of evil had a curious tendency to become localized; 
that certain streets, mailboxes, telegraph offices, vehicles, could be 
totally suborned by these invisible currents of hatred and ill-will that 
had their source in the minds of her enemies and continually en- 
circled her. She believed that in this way an entire neighborhood 
could be made inimical to her, and it is quite possible that, after the 
recent litigation in Concord, she felt that the place had become 
saturated with mesmerism and that she would never again find 
peace there. ^ 

Mrs. Eddy was now eighty-seven years of age, and her 
highly nervous organization that had withstood the strain 
and storms of so many years was visibly approaching the 
end. Yet she still showed wonderful vitality and grip on 
her affairs and at times the old fire would flash up in the 
dying embers. Her death occurred on December 3, 1910. 
A physician was called in near the end, and her attendants 
said that for several days she had been "in error." She 
was buried at Newton, where a costly monument has been 

1 History t p. 459. 



LIFE OF MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY 57 

reared over her grave. But her real monument is the 
strange system of belief and practice she built up and the 
strange book she wrote and the church that acknowledges 
her as its founder. Whatever view may be taken of her 
character and teaching and work, it must be admitted 
that she was one of the most remarkable women of her 
day. 



CHAPTER IV 
WHERE DID MRS. EDDY GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING? 

This is a vital question in the story of Mrs. Eddy's Hfe 
and the history of Christian Science. If the system is 
based on a false claim of originality and has purloined its 
ideas from another healer, it falls into the class of stolen 
goods. It is true that the essential truth and worth of - 

the ideas of a system may be independent of their origin I 

and authorship, but a religion founded by a false prophet 
cannot retain the respect of the world, and will not 
endure. 

1. MRS. EDDY'S CLAIMS 

Mrs. Eddy makes very positive claims as to her own 
discovery of Christian Science, but as usual she is at this 
point her own most confusing and contradictory witness 
against herself. At different times she fixes on different 
dates for this discovery; and while the development of an 
idea may pass through degrees of growth, yet her definite 
dates do not carry this implication, especially as she says 
in one of her letters, 'T discovered the art in a moment's 
time.'' In a letter to the Boston Post of March 7, 1883, 
she says: "We made our first experiments in mental 
healing about 1853, when we were convinced that mind 
had a science, which, if understood, would heal all disease." 
But in the first edition of '^Science and Health," 1875, she 
says: '*We made our first discovery that science mentally 

58 



WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 59 

applied would heal the sick, in 1864, and since then 
have tested it on ourselves and hundreds of others and 
never found it fail to prove the statement herein made 
for it/' 

In later editions of **Science and Health," she fixes on 
1866 as the date of the discovery, and this is the date 
given in a more elaborate account in her autobiography 
"Retrospection and Introspection" (1892), which is as 
follows: 



It was in Massachusetts, February, 1866, and after the death of 
the magnetic doctor, Mr. P. P. Quimby, whom spiritualists would 
associate therewith, but who was in no wise connected with this 
event, that I discovered the science of Divine Metaphysical healing, 
which I afterward named Christian Science. The discovery came 
to pass in this way. During twenty years prior to my discovery I 
had been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental cause; and 
in the latter part of 1866 I gained the scientific certainty that all 
causation was Mind, and every effect a mental phenomenon. My 
immediate recovery from the effects of an injury caused by an 
accident, an injury neither medicine nor surgery could reach, was 
the falling apple that led me to the discovery how to be well myself 
and how to make others so. Even to the homeopathic physician 
who attended me, and rejoiced in my recovery, I could not then 
explain the modus of my relief. I could only assure him that the 
Divine Spirit had wrought the miracle, a miracle which later I 
found to be in perfect Scientific accord with divine law.^ 



She refers to this recovery in the first edition of ''Science 
and Health" and also in a letter written to Mr. W. W. 
Wright, in which she says: ''I have demonstrated upon 
myself in an injury occasioned by a fall, that it did for 
me what surgeons could not do. Dr. Gushing of this city 
pronounced my injury incurable and that I could not 
survive three days because of it, when on the third day I 
rose from my bed and to the utter confusion of all I 

1 Retrospection and Introspection, p. 24. 



60 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 



commenced my usual avocations and notwithstanding 
misplacements, I regained the natural position and 
functions of the body/* 

But two weeks after this miraculous recovery, which 
she says occurred on the third day after her accident, 
Mrs. Eddy wrote to Julius A. Dresser, a former student 
of Quimby, as follows: 



Two weeks ago I fell on the sidewalk, and struck my back on the 
ice, and was taken up for dead, came to consciousness amid a storm 
of vapors from cologne, chloroform, ether, camphor, etc., but to 
find myself the helpless cripple I was before I saw Dr. Quimby. 
The physician attending said I had taken the last step I ever should, 
but in two days I got out of my bed alone and will walk; but yet 
I confess I am frightened, and out of that nervous heat my friends 
are forming, spite of me, the terrible spinal affection from which I 
have suffered so long and hopelessly. . . Now can't you help me? 
I believe you can. I write with this feeling: I think that I could 
help another in my condition if they had not placed their intelligence 
in matter. This I have not done, and yet I am slowly failing. 
Won't you write to me if you will undertake for me if I can get you? 



And Dr. Gushing, the physician in the case, in 1907 
made a long affidavit, based on notes of the case written 
at the time, giving an account of it in which he said: 



I did not at any time declare, or believe, that there was no hope 
for Mrs. Patterson's recovery, or that she was in a critical condition, 
and did not at any time say, or belieye, that she had but three or 
any other limited number of days to live. Mrs. Patterson did not 
suggest, or say, or pretend, or in any way whatever intimate, that 
on the third, or any other day, of her said illness, she had miracu- 
lously recovered or been healed, or that, discovering or perceiving 
the truth of the power employed by Christ to heal the sick, she had, 
by it, been restored to health. As I have stated, on the third and 
subsequent days of her said illness, resulting from her said fall on 
the ice, I attended Mrs. Patterson and gave her medicine; and on 
the 10th day of the following August, I was again called to see her, 
this time at the home of a Mrs. Clark, on Summer Street, in said 
city of Lynn. 



WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 61 

As Dr. Gushing attended Mrs. Eddy on the third day 
after her fall, when she says she experienced an "immediate 
recovery'* which astonished her physician, an alleged fact 
which he utterly denies, and also attended her for at 
least two days subsequent to this third day, and as she 
herself wrote two weeks later to Julius A. Dresser that 
she was "slowly failing'* and made a frantic appeal to 
him to help her, her claim to have discovered Christian 
Science in 1866 in connection with a miraculous recovery 
from a fall is discredited and disproved by her physician 
and especially by her own subsequent testimony. 

2. PmNEAS PARKHURST QUIMBY 

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, as has been seen, was an 
uneducated clock maker of Portland, Me., who practiced 
mental healing. He was born in Lebanon, N. H., in 
1802 and died at Belfast, Me., in 1866. He was a man of 
Christian faith and fine character and sterling worth, 
whose simple goodness and kindliness won the instinctive 
confidence of all who came into contact with him, and 
this faith in himself which he inspired was, no doubt, the 
chief secret of his healing power. While uneducated, he 
was yet not an ignorant man, but was a constant reader 
of the Bible and even read some philosophical books. 
About 1838 he became interested in the power of the mind 
as exhibited in mesmerism, clairvoyance, and Scriptural 
healing by laying on of hands. Charles Poyen, the 
French mesmerist who has been mentioned before, was 
then traveling around and lecturing in New England, and 
Mr. Quimby heard him and was influenced by him. He 
practiced his method of healing for a time, but soon 



62 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

abandoned it and began to heal diseases by the silent 
treatment, declaring 'Truth" to be the healer. Though 
he said that ''error is matter/' yet he did not mean to deny 
the reality of matter and was little interested in meta- 
physics. "His explanations were concrete, and he saw 
no reason for denying natural facts/'l He ceased to 
practice mesmerism or hypnotism because he discovered 
that "any person or drug which could put the patient in 
this attitude of mental receptivity and give his own mind 
a chance to work upon the disease, would accomplish the 
same result." He then gave up manipulating his patients 
and declared the cure was purely mental. Finally he lost 
all faith in the science of medicine and thought that 
doctors were hypocrites. "Instead of gaining confidence 
in the doctors, I was forced to the conclusion that their 
science was false. . . . My theory exposes the hypocrisy 
of those who undertake to cure in this way."^ Mr. 
Quimby was a simple-minded man who found no difficulty 
in thinking that all his own opinions were infallible 
knowledge and that all other men's opinions were false. 

In one of his circulars he described his method as 
follows: 

My practice is unlike all medical practice. . . I give no medicines 
and make no outward applications, but simply sit by the patient, 
tell him what he thinks is his disease, and my explanation is the 
cure. . . If I succeed in correcting his errors, I change the fluids 
of his system, and establish the truth or health. The truth is the 
cure. This mode of treatment applies to all cases. ^ 

1 Horatio W. Dresser, History of the New Thought Movement, p. 
120. 

2 Julius A. Dresser, True History of Mental Healing, p. 17. 

^ For extensive quotations from Mr. Quimby's manuscripts see 
the True History of Mental Healing, by Julius A. Dresser who was a 



WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 63 

Mr. Quimby divided man into two parts or elements, 
"the spiritual power in man," and "the natural man," or 
"animal matter or life." He uses the word "matter" for 
the lower nature of the senses and also appears to mean 
by it very much the same as we mean by the "subcon- 
sciousness," but he never employs it in Mrs. Eddy's 
sense of "nothingness," and of a delusion of "mortal 
mind," a term he does not use. "My theory," he says, 
"is founded on the fact that mind is matter; and, if you 
will admit this for the sake of listening to my ideas, I 
will give you my theory. . . All knowledge that is of 
man is based on Qpinions. This I call this world of 
[spiritual] matter. It embraces all that comes within the 
so-called senses. Man's happiness and misery are in his 
belief; but the wisdom of science is of God, and not of man. 
Now to separate these two kingdoms is what I am trying 
to do. . . Disease is the invention of man, and has no 
identity in Wisdom." Disease is thus a wrong belief 
rooted down in the subconscious life of man, and it is 
cured by Truth or Wisdom which is the power of God 
working in the soul.^ This is Quimby's root idea which 
Mrs. Eddy appropriated, only she added to it the idea of 
the nonreality of matter, which he never held, as well as 
many other absurd notions. 



patient of Mr. Quimby and then a teacher of his methods, and 
who says, "All these writings I have read, being in the confidence 
of George A. Quimby, the son, who holds them." His book, based 
on personal intimate knowledge of the facts, gives convincing testi- 
mony as to the way in which Mrs. Eddy appropriated Mr. Quimby's 
principle and methods. 

1 For an exposition of Mr. Quimby's theory, see H. W. Dresser's 
History of the New Thought Movement, ch. II and III. 



64 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

8. REV. WARREN F. EVANS. FIRST EXPOSITOR OF QUIMBY 

Dr. Quimby soon began to attract not only patients 
but also students and followers who took up his system 
and began to teach and practice it for themselves. Among 
these was the Rev. Warren F. Evans, a Swedenborgian 
minister of Claremont, N. H., who came to Dr. Quimby 
in poor health in 1863 and was healed. He was acquainted 
with philosophical idealism and was able to grasp Dr. 
Quimby's ideas and work them out for himself. As a 
result of his study and experience he became the first 
expositor of Dr. Quimby's theory, which he set forth in 
six volumes, the first three of which, with their titles and 
dates of publication, were the following: '*The Mental 
Cure," 1869; ^'Mental Medicine,'' 1872; and '*Soul and 
Body," 1875. It will be noted that these three books 
appeared before the first edition of Mrs. Eddy's "Science 
and Health." A quotation from the second of these 
volumes, "Mental Medicine," will indicate Mr. Evans* 
general teaching: 

Disease being in its root a wrong belief, change that belief and 
we cure the disease. By faith we are thus made whole. There is a 
law here the world will sometime understand and use in the cure of 
the diseases that afflict mankind. The late Dr. Quimby, one of the 
successful healers of this or any age, embraced this view of the 
nature of disease, and by a long succession of most remarkable 
cures proved the truth of the theory and the efficiency of that 
mode of treatment. Had he lived in a remote age or country, the 
wonderful facts which occurred in his practice would have been 
deemed either mythical or miraculous. He seemed to reproduce 
the wonders of the Gospel history. ^ 

It will be seen that Mr. Evans not only reproduces 
Dr. Quimby's fundamental teaching but also expressly 

1 For account of Rev. W. F. Evans and his teaching, see Dresser's 
"History of the New Thought Movement, ch. IV. 



WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 65 

attributes it to him, in which respect he stands in wide 
contrast with Mrs. Eddy. It is an important fact in 
this history that Mrs. Eddy had some knowledge of Dr. 
Evans' books, for "as a direct rebuke to those who had 
become interested in the writings of Dr. Evans, she issued 
instructions to the members of the Christian Scientists' 
Association that they should read no other works upon 
mental healing than those written by herself, and she 
printed in the Journal a set of rules to the effect that all 
teachers of Christian Science should require that their 
students read no literature upon the subject of mind 
cure but her own."2 

4. MRS. EDDY'S RELATIONS WITH DR. QUIMBY 

Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, was wandering 
around with her peripatetic dental husband and was 
trying various means of cure for her ill health, when she 
heard of Dr. Quimby and went to him in Portland in 
1862. She was so weak on her arrival that she had to 
be helped up into the waiting room and so poor that he 
personally obtained for her a room at a reduced rate. 
After a stay of three weeks her spinal trouble left her and 
she thought she was cured. But she obtained more than 
healing from Dr. Quimby: she obtained from him some- 
thing that she had hitherto lacked, an idea and a mission, 
a purpose that would unify her discordant life and call 
out her latent personality and power. She haunted Dr. 
Quimby's office, "'asking questions, reading manuscripts, 
and observing his treatment of patients." The kindly 
old man took an interest in her and said, "She*s a devilish 
bright woman.'* 

2 Milmine, History, p. 349. 



66 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Soon after her recovery she wrote a long letter to the 
Portland Courier, of the date of November 7, 1862, in 
which she pays a laudatory tribute to Dr. Quimby and 
explains his mode of healing. In these early letters of 
Mrs. Eddy's, she is discovered in the act of writing her 
unassisted and unedited English, and from the opening 
paragraph of this letter this specimen is given: 



When the startled alchemist discovered, as he supposed, au 
universal solvent, or the philosopher's stone, and the more daring 
Archimedes invented a lever wherewithal to pry up the universe, I 
cannot say that in either the principle obtained in nature or in art, 
or that it worked well, having never tried it. But, when by a falling 
apple, an immutable law was discovered, we gave it the crown of 
science, which is incontrovertible and capable of demonstration; 
hence that was wisdom and truth. When from the evidence of the 
senses, my reason takes cognizance of truth, although it may appear 
in quite a miraculous view, I must acknowledge that as science 
which is truth uninvestigated. 



In reading the following extract from her letter bearing 
on Dr. Quimby's method of healing, let the fact be kept 
in mind that afterward she affirmed that he was a mes- 
merist and used animal magnetism in his work: 



Is it by animal magnetism that he heals the sick? Let us examine. 
I have employed electro-magnetism and animal magnetism, and for 
a brief interval have felt relief, from the equilibrium which I fancied 
was restored to an exhausted system or by diffusion of concentrated 
action. But in no instance did I get rid of a return of all my ail- 
ments, because I had not been helped out of the error in which 
opinions involved us. My operator believed in disease, independent 
of the mind; hence I could not be wiser than my master. But now 
I can see dimly at first, and only as trees walking, the great principle 
which underlies Dr. Quimby's faith and works; and just in proportion 
to my right perception of truth is my recovery. This truth which 
he opposes to the error of giving intelligence to matter and placing 
pain where it never placed itself, if received understandingly, 
changes the currents of the system to their normal action; and the 
mechanism of the body goes on undisturbed. That this is a science 



WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 67 

capable of demonstration, becomes clear to the minds of those 
patients who reason upon the process of their cure. The truth 
which he establishes in the patient cures him (although he may be 
wholly unconscious thereof) ; and the body, which is full of light, is 
no longer in disease. At present I am too much in error to elucidate 
the truth, and can touch only the keynote for the master hand to 
wake to harmony. May it be in essays, instead of notes! say I. 
After all, this is very spiritual doctrine; but the eternal years of God 
are with it, and it must stand firm as the rock of ages. And to 
many a poor sufferer may it be found, as by me, "the shadow of a 
great rock in a weary land."^ 



This letter brought ridicule upon both Dr. Quimby 
and herself, and a correspondent of the Portland Advertiser 
exclaimed, "P. P. Quimby compared to Jesus Christ? 
Again Mrs. Eddy wrote to the Courier: 



» 



Noticing the paragraph in the Advertiser, commenting upon 
some sentences of mine clipped from the Courier, relative to the 
science of P. P. Quimby, concluding, "What next?" we would reply 
in due deference to the courtesy with which they define their position. 
P. P. Quimby stands upon the plane of wisdom with his truth. 
Christ healed the sick, but not by jugglery or with drugs. As the 
former speaks as never man before spake, and heals as never man 
healed since Christ, is he not identified with truth? And is not 
this the Christ which is in him? We know that in wisdom is life, 
"and the life was the light of man." P. P. Quimby rolls away the 
stone from the sepulcher of error, and health is the resurrection. 2 



Mrs. Patterson returned from Portland to Sanbornton 
Bridge apparently in restored health, and ^'Quimby 
became the great possession of her life." She talked of 
him incessantly and wrote him many letters, containing 
such statements as: "I am to all who see me a living 
wonder, and a living monument of your power. . . My 
explanation of your curative principle surprises people. 



1 Milmine, History y pp. 58, 59. 

2 Thi'rl. T^ fiO 



2 Ibid, p. 



68 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

especially those whose minds are all matter." A few 
days later she writes asking him for "absent treatment," 
and to "please come to me and remove this pain." 

In 1864 Mrs. Patterson again spent two or three months 
in Portland. Dr. Quimby now gave her much of his time, 
and Mrs. Sarah Crosby, a patient of Dr. Quimby with 
whom Mrs. Patterson became intimate, says of her, "She 
would work with Dr. Quimby all afternoon, and then she 
would come home and sit up late at night writing down 
what she had learned during the day." Again she left 
Portland and wrote more letters to Dr. Quimby full of 
gratitude and praise. "Who is wise but you.^ . . . Doctor, 
I have a strong feeling of late that I might be perfect 
after the command of science." 

Mr. Quimby died on January 16, 1866, of an abdominal 
tumor, and many mourned the good man's death. None 
more than Mrs. Patterson, who wrote to Julius Dresser 
a letter inclosing some lines of poetry on the death of 
Dr. Quimby, the letter beginning: "I enclose some lines 
of mine in memory of our much-loved friend, which 
perhaps you will not think overwrought in meaning: 
others must of course." The concluding lines of the poem 
are: "Rest should reward him who hath made us whole, 
seeking, though tremblers, where his footsteps trod." 

What was Mrs. Patterson doing in the years 1864-1870? 
These were the "wander years" during which she went 
from home to home, creating more or less trouble in almost 
every one of them. She was teaching the Quimby 
"science" of healing, using for this purpose a manuscript 
which she said had been written by "Dr. P. P. Quimby" 
and having her students copy it, while she guarded it 
most jealously. There is an unbroken chain of witnesses 



WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 69 

and affidavits and other evidences to prove this important 
fact beyond a doubt. 

She spent two years, 1868-1870, at the home of Mrs. 
Sally Wentworth in Stoughton, Mass. Here she used 
the Quimby manuscript in instructing Mrs. Wentworth, 
who made a copy of it. Mrs. Wentworth's son, Horace T. 
Wentworth, had his mother's copy in 1907, and in a long 
affidavit, made in that year, he minutely describes it and 
states: 



I became acquainted with Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, now of 
Concord, N. H., and known as the Discoverer and Founder of 
Christian Science, in the year 1868, when she was the wife of one 
Daniel Patterson, with whom she was now living, and was known 
by the name of a former husband, one George W. Glover, and 
called herself Mrs. Mary M. Glover. . . Said Mrs. Glover, upon 
coming to my mother's house, lent my mother her manuscript copy 
of what she, Mrs. Glover, said were writings of said Quimby, and 
permitted my mother to make a full manuscript copy thereof, and 
said manuscript copy of the writings of said Quimby, in my mother's 
handwriting, and with corrections and interlineations in the hand- 
writing of Mrs. Glover, is now, and has been since my mother's 
death, in my possession. On the outside, said copy is entitled 
**Extracts from Doctor P. P. Quimby's Writings," and at the head 
of the first page, on the inside, said copy is further entitled "The 
Science of Man or the Principle Which Controls All Phenomena." 
There is a preface of two pages with Mrs. Mary M. Glover's name 
signed at the end. The extracts are in the form of fifteen questions 
and answers and are labeled, ''Questions by patients. Answers by 
Dr. Quimby." Annexed hereto, marked "Exhibit A," is a full 
and complete copy of my mother's said copy of Mrs. Glover's said 
copy of Dr. Quimby's writings. Annexed hereto, marked "Exhibit 
B" is a photograph of the first page of Mrs, Wentworth's manuscript 
plainly showing the additions made in a handwriting not my mother's. 
All of the said first page shown in Exhibit B is in my mother's 
handwriting except the words "Wisdom Love &" added to the 
beginning of the fifteenth line, the word "of" and the symbol "&" 
added to the sixteenth line and the words "is in it" added to the 
seventeenth line, none of which additions is in my mother's hand- 
writing. 

Mr. Wentworth in his affidavit proceeds to say that, 



70 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

while he is not familiar with Mrs. Glover's writing, 
* 'having compared these corrections with unquestionable 
writing of said Mrs. Glover's, found with my mother's 
papers, and seen them to be strikingly similar, I am con- 
fidently of the opinion that they are the writing of the 
only person interested in the correction of said Mrs. 
Glover's preface to said Dr. Quimby's writings, to wit, 
said Mrs. Mary M. Glover— Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy— 
herself." 

Miss Milmine gives a facsimile of the first page of this 
manuscript with its corrections in a different handwriting 
as described in Mr. Wentworth's affidavit. ^ 

Affidavits similar to that of Horace T. Wentworth 
were made by Charles O. Wentworth, his brother, Mrs. 
Arthur L. Holmes, his sister, and Mrs. Catherine I. Clapp, 
his cousin, these being all the members of the Wentworth 
family living at the time. Mrs. Clapp, when asked if 
she had ever heard Mrs. Glover say that she learned her 
system from Dr. Quimby, said: '"Yes, and I am not 
likely to forget it. It is fixed in my memory by a very 
reprehensible proceeding of my own. You see, Mrs. 
Glover used to say this to everybody who came in. She 
wasn't content with mentioning it once or twice that she 
had learned it from Dr. Quimby, she repeated it so often 
that we girls got dreadfully tired of hearing it." The 
"reprehensible proceeding of her own" was that she used 
to mock Mrs. Glover who "would fold her hands softly 
in her lap, smile gently, nod her head slowly at almost 
every word, and say in a sweet voice, *I learned this from 
Dr. Quimby and he made me promise to teach it to at 
least two persons before I die/ " There was one particular 

1 History, p. 128. 



WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 71 

passage in Mrs. Glover's instructions which Mrs. Clapp, 
then a young girl, "used to scoflF at and make fun of to 
her intimates." It ran as follows: 



The daily ablutions of an infant are no more natural or necessary 
than would be the process of taking a fish out of water every day 
and covering it with dirt to make it thrive more vigorously thereafter 
in its native element. 



Years afterward, Mrs. Clapp picked up a copy of 
"Science and Health," and opened it at this identical 
passage which had so excited her girlish derision, l Much 
other testimony and evidence are available to prove that 
this manuscript that Mrs. Glover used in her teaching 
during the years 1864-1870 was a manuscript or a copy 
of a manuscript of P. P. Quimby's and embodied his 
system of healing. 

Finally we have the explicit proof given by Miss 
Milmine as follows: 



George A. Quimby of Belfast, Me., has lent the writer one of his 
father's manuscripts, entitled, "Questions and Answers." This is 
in the handwriting of Mr. Quimby's mother, the wife of Phineas P. 
Quimby, and is dated, in Mrs. Quimby's handwriting, February, 
1862 — nine months before Mrs. Eddy's first visit to Portland. For 
twenty closely written pages, Quimby's manuscript, "Questions and 
Answers,'* is word for word the same as Mrs. Glover's manuscript, 
"The Science of Man."2 



The proof has reached demonstration that Mrs. Eddy 
had Quimby's manuscript and derived her teaching from 

1 Peabody, Masquerade, pp. 87, 89. Mr. Peabody locates this 
precious passage on page 41 of the 1898 edition of Science and Health, 
but it is now found on page 413 of that changeable book. 

2 History, pp. 128, 129. 



72 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

him and attributed it to him. The contents of this 
manuscript will be reserved until the next chapter. 

It remains only to add that as late as 1871, after Mrs. 
Eddy had settled in Lynn, she acknowledged that she 
derived her "art" from Dr. Quimby. In a letter written 
on March 7, 1871, to Mr. W. W. Wright, of Lynn, who 
had asked her, '*Has this theory ever been advertised or 
practiced before you introduced it, or by any other in- 
dividual?" she replied: 

Never advertised, and practiced by only one individual who 
healed me. Dr. Quimby of Portland, Me., an old gentleman who had 
made it a research for twenty-five years, starting from the stand- 
point of magnetism thence going forward and leaving that behind. 
I discovered the art in a moment's time, and he acknowledged it to 
me; he died shortly after and since then, eight years I have been 
founding and demonstrating the science. . . please preserve this, 
and if you become my student call me to account for the truth of 
what I have written. Respectfully, M. M. B. Glover. 

Let it be noted that in this letter Mrs. Eddy acknowl- 
edges that Dr. Quimby started *'from the standpoint 
of magnetism thence going forward and leaving that 
behind." 

5. MRS. EDDY'S DENIAL OF DEPENDENCE ON QUIMBY 

In the face of all this evidence and of her own written 
and published acknowledgments of indebtedness to him, 
will it be believed that Mrs. Eddy, after she launched 
out on her public career as a mental healer and founder 
of a religion, positively and repeatedly denied that she 
had derived her ideas from P. P. Quimby, but affirmed that 
he had derived his ideas from her.? He had not taught 
her, but she had taught him! Yet this is what she did 
and, as usual, over her own signature. 



WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 73 

When Mrs. Eddy turned against Dr. Quimby, she began 
by representing that he was a mesmerist and magnetic 
healer, although she herself had said that Dr. Quimby 
had started by this method but had gone forward, "leaving 
that behind.'* Julius A. Dresser, a student and follower 
of Quimby, resented this misrepresentation of Quimby 
and wrote a letter to this effect in the Boston Post of 
February 24, 1883. Mrs. Eddy replied in a letter to the 
same paper of March 7, 1883, in which she made this 
barefaced statement: 

We never were a student of Dr. Quimby's. . . Dr. Quimby 
never had students, to our knowledge. He was a Humanitarian, 
but a very unlearned man. He never published a work in his life; 
was not a lecturer or teacher. He was somewhat of a remarkable 
healer, and at the time we knew him he was known as a mesmerist. 
We were one of his patients. He manipulated his patients, but 
possibly back of his practice he may have had a theory in advance 
of his method. . . We knew him about twenty years ago, and 
aimed to help him. We saw he was looking in our direction, and 
asked him to write his thoughts out. He did so, and then we 
would take that copy to correct, and sometimes so transform it that 
he would say it was our composition, which it virtually was; but we 
always gave him back the copy and sometimes wrote his name on 
the back of it.^ 

In "Science and Health," edition of 1884, Mrs. Eddy 
says of Quimby: 

The old gentleman to whom we have referred had some very 
advanced views on healing, but he was not avowedly religious neither 
scholarly. We interchanged thoughts on the subject of healing the 
sick. I restored some patients of his he failed to heal, and left in 
his possession some manuscripts of mine containing corrections of 
his desultory pennings which I am imformed, at his decease, passed 
into the hands of a patient of his, now residing in Scotland. He 
died in 1865 and left no published works. The only manuscript 
that we ever had of his, longer than to correct it, was one of perhaps 
a dozen pages, most of which we composed. 

1 Milmine, History , p. 96. 



74 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 



99 



It is true that Mr. Quimby "left no published works 
but he was not "illiterate," as Mrs. Eddy in another 
statement declared, and he left manuscripts of "over 
eight hundred pages, covering one hundred and twenty 
subjects, written previous to March, 1862, more than six 
months before Mrs. Eddy went to Dr. Quimby.'' In 
her controversy with Mr. Julius A. Dresser, Mrs. Eddy 
published the following remarkable challenge: 

Mr. George A. Quimby, son of the late Phineas P. Quimby, over 
his own signature and before witnesses, stated in 1883, that he had 
in his possession at that time all the manuscripts that had been 
written by his father. And I hereby declare that to expose the 
falsehood of parties publicly intimating that I have appropriated 
matter belonging to the aforesaid Quimby, I will pay the cost of 
printing and publishing the first edition of those manuscripts with 
the author's name. Provided, that I am allowed to examine said 
manuscripts, and do find that they were his own compositions, and 
not mine, that were left with him many years ago, or that they 
have not since his death, in 1865, been stolen from my published 
works. Also that I am given the right to bring out this one edition 
under the copyright of the owner of said manuscripts, and all the 
money accruing from the sale of said book shall be paid to said 

owner. Some of the purported writings, quoted by Mr. D 

were my own words as near as I can recollect them. 

It is needless to say that such an offer was not accepted. 
Mrs. Eddy would quickly have found that these alleged 
manuscripts of Mr. Quimby were not "'his own com- 
positions," but were her own, or had "been stolen'* from 
her own "published works."! 

1 The question is often asked. Why are not these Quimby manu- 
scripts published so that the world may see their contents for itself? 
On this point Horatio W. Dresser, Ph. D., the son of Julius A. Dresser, 
in his "History of the New Thought Movement," p. 338, says: 
"For reasons best known to himself, Mr. George A. Quimby steadily 
refused to publish the manuscripts during the life-time of Mrs. Eddy. 
By previous arrangement with Mr. Quimby our family copies were 
returned to him in 1893, and we were not permitted to quote any of 



« 






WHERE DID SHE GET HER SYSTEM OF HEALING 75 

When Mrs. Eddy was confronted by Julius A. Dresser, 
in a letter in the Boston Post, the same letter to which 
reference has aheady been made, making public some of 
the articles and letters which she had written acknowl- 
edging her indebtedness to Dr. Quimby, she in her letter 
to the same paper, March 7, 1883, made this remarkable 
statement: 

Did I write those articles purporting to be mine? I might have 
written them twenty or thirty years ago, for I was under the mes- 
meric treatment of Dr. Quimby from 1862 until his death in 1865. 
He was illiterate and I knew nothing then of the Science of Mind- 
healing, and I was as ignorant of mesmerism as Eve before she was 
taught by the serpent. Mind Science was unknown to me; and my 
head was so turned by animal magnetism and will-power, under 
his treatment, that I might have written something as hopelessly 
incorrect as the articles now published in the Dresser pamphlet. I 
was not healed until after the death of Dr. Quimby; and then healing 
came as the result of my discovery in 1866, of the Science of Mind- 
healing, since named Christian Science. 

When in 1887 Mrs. Eddy asked Rev. James Henry 
Wiggin, her literary adviser and reviser, to answer the 
charge brought against her on the basis of her public 
acknowledgments of her indebtedness to Quimby, he asked 
her if she had written the letters to the Portland news- 
papers, the poem on Quimby's death and other effusions. 

the articles in full either in *The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby,' 
1895, or in 'Health and the Inner Life,' 1896. Mr. Quimby died 
without making any provision for the disposition of the manuscripts. 
It remains for the historian to edit and publish these writings at 
some future time. The historian has been personally acquainted 
with all the patients and followers of P. P. Quimby who have had 
the use of the manuscripts. Miss Milmine was allowed to reproduce 
part of a page of one of them for her life of Mrs. Eddy published 
in McClure's Magazine." In a personal letter from Dr. Dresser he 
tells the author that he himself is the ''historian" referred to. The 
Dressers, father and son, who had personal access to and knowledge 
of the Quimby manuscripts, had no doubt of Mrs. Eddy's indebted- 
ness to them for her ideas. 



76 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

When she admitted that she had, he said to her, "Then 
there is nothing to say." 

In a personal letter to a friend, Mr. Wiggin said: 

What Mrs. Eddy has, as documents clearly prove, she got from 
P. P. Quimby, of Portland, Me., whom she eulogized after death 
as the great leader and her special teacher. . . She has tried to 
answer this charge of the adoption of Quimby's ideas, and called 
me in to her counsel about it; but her only answer (in print!) was 
that if she said such things twenty years ago, she must have been 
under the influence of Animal Magnetism, i 

So ended and so stands the case of the relation of Mrs. 
Eddy to P. P. Quimby. That she should have derived 
her system, at least in idea and germ, from him was nothing 
to her discredit and nothing unusual in the history of 
ideas, which are rarely or never discovered as an absolute 
originality but are always derived from or suggested by 
or related to the work of other thinkers. Such derivation 
is always proper and honorable, provided, of course, it is 
aclqiowledged and not denied. Mrs. Eddy at first did 
make this acknowledgment in the fullest and frankest 
measure, but afterwards when she became established 
in her public career as a healer and founder of a religion 
she came to think that any acknowledgment of in- 
debtedness to Mr. Quimby was a reduction on her own 
standing and especially that it was fatal to her claim of 
receiving her discovery by divine revelation; a claim 
which she presently made; and therefore she disowned 
Quimby, denied her own words, set up a claim to false 
originality and backed it up with a deliberate untruth. 
And of this indebtedness and this denial she is convicted 
out of her own mouth. 

1 Mil mine. History, pp. 102, 103. 



CHAPTER V 
••SCIENCE AND HEALTH": THE MAKING OF THE BOOK 

It is now time to consider "Science and Health/* the 
book which claims to be the inspired bible of Christian 
Science. There will be given, first, some account of the 
making of this remarkable work, and then a summary of 
its contents. 

1. CONTENTS OF THE QUIMBY MANUSCRIPT 

It is in order at this point to give an outline of the 
contents and teaching of the manuscript which Mrs. Eddy 
used in her instruction in 1864-1870 and which it has been 
proved she derived from P. P. Quimby and during these 
years constantly acknowledged as his. This manuscript, 
which was lent to Miss Milmine by George A. Quimby, 
Dr. Quimby's son, consisted of twenty closely written 
pages and was entrc!ed "Questions and Answers." Mrs. 
Eddy headed the copy she used at the top with "Extracts 
from Doctor P. P. Quimby's Writings," and underneath 
this with "The Science of Man." Quotations from this 
manuscript are given by Miss Milmine, ^ Dr. Powell, ^ 
and Mr. Peabody,^ in their respective books. The 
arrangement of these quotations with parallel quotations 
from Mrs. Eddy's "Science and Health," here given, is 
taken from Mr. Peabody, with the exception of several 
quotations, which are from Dr. Powell. 

1 History, pp. 129, 130. 

2 Christian Science, pp. 48, 49. 

3 Masquerade, pp. 92-94. 

77 



78 



THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 



From Quimby's 
"Science and Man." 

Christian Science.^ 

Science of Health. 

Matter has no intelligence. 

If I understand how disease 
originates in the mind and fully 
believe it, why cannot I ciye 
myself? 

Never get in a passion, but in 
patience possess ye your soul, 
and at length you weary out the 
discord and produce harmony by 
your Truth destroying error. 
Then it is you get the case. 
Now if you are not afraid and 
argue down, then you can heal 
the sick. 

Error is sickness. Truth is 
health. 

In this science the names are 
given; thus God is Wisdom. 
This Wisdom, not an in- 
dividuality but a principle, em- 
braces every idea form, of which 
the idea, man, is the highest, 
hence the image of God, or the 
Principle. 

Understanding is God. 

Truth is God. 

Wisdom, Love, and Truth are 
principle. 



From Mrs. Eddy's 
"Science and Health." 

Christian Science. 

Science and Health. 

Matter cannot produce mind. 

Disease being a belief, a latent 
delusion of mortal mind, the sen- 
sation would not appear if this 
error was met and destroyed by 
Truth. 

When we come to have more 
faith in the Truth of Being than 
we have in error, more faith in 
spirit than in matter, then no 
material conditions can prevent 
us from healing the sick and 
destroying error through Truth. 



Sickness is part of the error 
which Truth casts out. 

God is the principle of man; 
and the principle of man re- 
maining perfect, its idea or re- 
flection — man — remains perfect. 
Man was and is God's idea. 
Man is the idea of divine 
principle. What is God? Je- 
hovah is not a person, God is 
principle. 

Understanding is a quality of 
God. 

Truth is God. _ 

Adhere to its divine Principle, 
and follow its behests, abiding 
steadily in Wisdom, Love, ana 
Truth. 



1 Miss Milmine gives a facsimile of a part of another manuscript 
by Dr. Quimby in his own handwriting containing the words 
"Christian Science." As this manuscript bears the date 1863, this 
is incontestable proof that Mrs. Eddy did not originate this name, 
as she says she did. See McClures Magazine, vol. XXVIII, p. 
511, for this facsimile. The use of the word "science," however, in 
this peculiar sense goes back of Quimby. It was so used by Charles 
Poyen. See p. 19. 



SCIENCE AND HEALTH": MAKING OF THE BOOK 79 

Error is matter. Matter is mortal error. 

To give intelligence to matter The fundamental error of 

is an error which is sickness. mortal man is the belief that 

matter is intelligent. 

Matter has no intelligence of Laws of matter are nothing 

its own, and to believe intelli- more or less than a belief of 

gence is in matter is the error intelligence and life in matter, 

which produces pain and in- which is the procuring cause of 

harmony of all sorts. all disease. 

For matter is an error, there There is no life, truth, intelli- 

being no substance, which is gence, or substance in matter. 
Truth in a thing which changes 
and is only that which belief 
makes it. 

The identity of teaching extending to the very words in 
these two writings is obvious and undeniable. The key 
words of Mrs. Eddy's book, ^'science/' "'truth," "principle," 
"mind," "error," "matter," "belief," which she uses in a 
peculiar sense as a kind of jargon or lingo, are all derived 
from Quimby who used them in the same peculiar sense. 
Such expressions as "Truth is God," "God is Principle," 
"Matter is Error," "There is no intelligence in matter," 
which Mrs. Eddy repeats thousands of times with weari- 
some and infinite repetition in her book, are all taken 
bodily from Quimby. He built his instructions and 
practice around these same ideas and phrases and wrote 
them indelibly into his manuscripts, where they stand to 
this day published in facsimile and can be seen and read 
of all men. The merest superficial acquaintance with 
Mrs. Eddy's "Science and Health" shows that her book 
is built up around the same ideas and words and phrases. 
She repeats the same ideas, practices the same healing 
art, speaks the same language. Mrs. Eddy was right and 
was simply telling the truth when she kept telling her 
students during 1864-187Q, "I learned this from Dr. 
Quimby." 



80 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Thus the roots of Mrs. Eddy's teaching and book run 
back into P. P. Quimby and through him and others 
down into the subsoil of New England transcendentaHsm 
and other "isms" that grew so rank in that region. Of 
course she elaborated these germinal ideas or at least 
repeated them and spun them out into her system and 
book. It cannot be claimed that she had no originality 
and was a mere echo of other voices. She had a mind 
and especially a will and purpose of her own, and she 
wrought these out into her book and her church. But 
the substance and core of her teaching were not her own, 
but came from the humble and benevolent clock maker at 
whose feet she obediently sat and then rose up at first to 
praise him extravagantly and follow him loyally, and then 
to deny and disown him and even to claim that he had 
taken from her what she had purloined from him. 

In the face of these proven facts she had the effrontery 
to assert in the original first preface to ^'Science and 
Health," "Not one of our printed works was ever copied 
or abstracted from the published or from the unpublished 
writings of anyone;" and she had the further boldness to 
insert in her autobiography a chapter on "Plagiarism" in 
which she denounces this thing and declares that it "does 
violence to the ethics of Christian Science"! 

2. THE EDITIONS OF "SCIENCE AND HEALTH" 

During the years from 1864 to 1870 in all the house- 
holds where she stopped Mrs. Eddy was writing, writing, 
and referring to her manuscripts as her "Bible." As 
early as 1866 when she was at Lynn she said she "was 
writing a Bible, and was almost through Genesis." At 
Mrs. Wentworth's at Stoughton, where she spent two 



^'SCIENCE AND HEALTH": MAKING OF THE BOOK 81 

years, 1868-1870, she "pointed affectionately to a pile of 
notepaper tied up with a string, which lay on her desk, and 
told Mrs. Clapp (Mrs. Wentworth's niece) that it was 
her Bible, and that she had completed the book of Gene- 
sis."i 

For at least eight years she had been at work on her 
manuscript before she sought a publisher. It was while 
she was with Mrs. Wentworth that she took the book to 
a Boston printer, and when he demanded payment in 
advance for publishing it she tried to borrow the money 
from her, but the money was not forthcoming. "Had 
Mrs. Glover," says Miss Milmine, "then been successful 
in her search for a publisher. Christian Science in its 
present form would never have existed; for at that time 
she had not dreamed of calling her system anything but 
Quimby's Science. "^ 

The book first saw the light in 1875, when she was at 
work in Lynn, and two of her students. Miss Elizabeth 
Newhall and George Barry, furnished the money, $1500, 
to secure its publication, the expense of Mrs. Eddy*s 
many changes in the plates increasing the cost to $2200. 
In spite of her intense faith in her book, she was chary 
about venturing her own money on it and saw that others 
ran the risk of any loss while she would reap any gain. 
The book contained 456 pages and sold at $2.50. The 
first edition consisted of 1000 copies, but when the book 
fell flat on the market the price was reduced to $1.00. 
Copies were sent for review to the New England news- 
papers, and to some notable institutions and people, 
such as the University of Heidelberg and Thomas Carlyle. 

1 Milmine, History , pp. 131, 132. 

2 Ibid, p. 176. 



82 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

But it received little notice other than flippant references 
to its vagaries, and the * 'ill-made, cheap-looking affair" 
seemed to drop into the waters of oblivion. One woman, 
however, still had indomitable faith in its future, and her 
faith in due time was justified. 

By 1877 Mrs. Eddy was busily at work on a second 
edition of her book, when it was hurried to the press on 
account of her quarrel with her publisher, Daniel Spoff ord, 
and it has already been noted how she turned into a 
bitter personal attack upon him this edition which con- 
sisted of an "odd little brown book," labeled Volume II, 
although the first edition has not been labeled Volume I.^ 

The third edition, which appeared in 1881, was also 
turned into a personal polemic and attack on Richard 
Kennedy. A new chapter appeared in this edition, 
entitled "Demonology," which poured out all the vials 
of her wrath against her former student and partner. 
From this a characteristic quotation has been given.2 

Prosperity was now smiling upon Mrs. Eddy, and new 
editions of "'Science and Health" came thick and fast. 
The *'Key to the Scriptures'* was added to the book in 
1884. The book has now passed through about five 
hundred editions. They were announced as new editions 
up to near this point, but of late years this is no longer 
done and only the year of publication is given. Of 
course these "editions" are mostly simply additional 
printings and are not properly editions, but in a sur- 
prising number of them the book underwent revision and 
sometimes radical change. For a number of years the 
book was in a state of flux and its contents floated around 
within the covers in the most astonishing way. Not 

^ Page 44. 
2 Page 44. 



''SCIENCE AND HEALTH": MAKING OF THE BOOK 83 

only were there constant additions and subtractions, 
but the order of the chapters was frequently changed. 
On this point Dr. Powell writes: 

No matter what editions you may chance to be comparing, there 
is an unexpected instability of arrangement in a book which the 
author claims is of the nature of **final revelation.'* Mrs. Eddy is 
not content to let the sequence remain permanent. Of four editions 
dated, respectively, 1881, 1888, 1898, and 1906, the chapter which 
comes first in the first and second of the four editions comes fifth in 
the third and sixth and fourth. The second chapter in the first and 
second editions is third and eighth respectively in the third and 
fourth. The third chapter in the first edition appears as the fifth 
in the second, the second in the third, and the seventh in the fourth. 
Chapter IV in the first edition is Chapter XII in the second and XIV 
in the third and fourth editions. Chapter V in the first is IX in the 
second, XII in the third and fourth. And the variation lasts 
throughout. 1 

While the chapters were thus being shuffled around 
into new arrangements, changes were being introduced 
in their paragraphs, and some of these are significant. 
For example, in the 1903 edition on page 274 there is 
this declaration: ''Until it is learned that generation 
rests on no sexual basis, let marriage continue/* But in 
the 1909 edition this declaration is found on page 64 and 
has been changed to read as follows: ''Until it is learned 
that God is the Father of all, marriage will continue." 
In both cases it is implied that generation does not rest 
on a sexual basis, but until this fact is conceded the first 
version permits marriage to Christian Scientists and the 
second version simply declares that marriage will continue: 
the first version grants a permission which the second 
version does not allow; but either way it reads the state- 
ment is a subtle blow at the foundation of marriage and 
brands it as a temporary delusion, which, should give 
way to "a more spiritual adherence." 

1 Christian Science, pp. 18, 19, 



84 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

The sale of the book, of course, has been enormous and 
it has proved probably the richest literary gold mine of 
a century; and as every Christian Scientist is supposed 
and sometimes commanded to purchase the latest issue, 
the point of these many "editions" is easily seen. 

3. WHO WROTE THE BOOK? 

Mark Twain refuses to believe that Mrs. Eddy unaided 
wrote "Science and Health." He devotes many pages 
to a higher critical examination of her ideas and style 
in her early and acknowledged writings to show that the 
same hand could not have written the generally smooth 
and intelligent English of her main book. To believe 
this he says "is more than difficult, it is impossible." 
He continues: 

Largely speaking, I have read acres of what purported to be Mrs. 
Eddy's writings, in the past two months. I cannot know, but I am 
convinced, that the circumstantial evidence shows that her actual 
share in the work of composing and phrasing these things was so 
slight as to be inconsequential. Where she puts her literary foot 
down, her trail across her paid polisher's page is as plain as the 
elephant's in a Sunday-school procession. Her verbal output, 
when left undoctored by her clerks, is quite unmistakable. It 
always exhibits the strongly distinctive features observable in the 
virgin passages from her pen already quoted by me: 

Desert vacancy, as regards thought. 

Self-complacency. 

Sentimentality. 

Affectations of scholarly learning. 

Lust after eloquent and flowery expression. 

Repetition of pet poetic picturesquenesses. 

Confused and wandering statement. 

Metaphor gone insane. 

Meaningless words, used because they are pretty, or showy 

or unusual. 
Sorrowful attempts at the epigrammatic. 
Destitution of originality.^ 

1 Christian Science, pp. 130, 131, 



'SCIENCE AND HEALTH": MAKING OF THE BOOK 85 

He concludes that **it is not believable that the hand 
that wrote those clumsy and affected sentences wrote the 
smooth English of ''Science and Health/* Mark Twain 
was right in his higher critical instinct and guess ^ that 
Mrs. Eddy must have had "a paid polisher" and "clerks" 
to put her own lucubrations in shape, but it is the general 
opinion that he does more than justice to the English of 
"Science and Health." That is bad enough in the later 
editions of the book, but in the early editions it is Mrs. 
Eddy's own thought and style beyond a doubt. 

The author has not been able to obtain or even to see 
a copy of the first edition of "Science and Health," 
although he has applied for it to the Christian Science 
publishers and headquarters, ^ but Miss Milmine gives 
an extended quotation from it that bears the marks of 
its being in Mrs. Eddy's own unaided style, a fine 
specimen^ of which has already been given. 

A portion of Miss Milmine's extract is the following: 

The belief that fasting or feasting enables man to grow better, 
morally or physically, is one of the fruits of "the tree of knowledge" 
against which Wisdom warned man, and of which we had partaken 
in sad experience; believing for many years we lived only by the 
strictest adherence to dietetics and physiology. During this time we 
also learned a dyspeptic is very far from the image and likeness of 
God, from having "dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowls of the 
air, or beasts of the field;" therefore that God never made one; 
while the Graham system, hygiene, physiology, materia medica, etc., 
did, and contrary to his commands. Then it was that we promised 
God to spend our coming years for the sick and suffering; to unmask 
this error of belief that matter rules man. Our cure for dyspepsia 

1 Mark Twain wrote his book in 1902 and 1903 and therefore was 
not acquainted with the later disclosures as to the part played by 
the Rev. James Henry Wiggin as Mrs. Eddy's literary reviser. 

2 "The first edition oi Science and Health has been so far as possible 
suppressed." H. W. Dresser, The New Thought Movement, p. 111. 

3 Page 34. 



86 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

was, to learn the science of being, and "eat what was set before us, 
asking no question for conscience* sake; yea to consult matter less 
and God more."^ 



Miss Milmine also describes the first edition of "Science 
and Health" as follows: 

Even after eight years of struggle with her copy, the book, as 
printed in 1875, is hardly more than a tangle of words and theories, 
faulty in grammar and construction, and singularly vague and contra- 
dictory in its statements. Although the book is divided into 
chapters, each having a title of its own, there is no corresponding 
classification of the subject, and it is only by piecing together the 
declarations found in the various chapters that one may make out 
something of the theories which Mrs. Glover had been trying for so 
long to express. 2 

The conclusion is that Mrs. Eddy did write "Science 
and Health" as it appeared in its first and early editions. 

4. ENTER: REVEREND JAMES HENRY WIGGIN, LITERARY REVISER 

At this point there enters upon the scene Rev. James 
Henry Wiggin who plays an important part in this story. 
He is the *'paid polisher" whose hand Mark Twain dis- 
cerned in Mrs, Eddy's book by an improvement in her 
style, as Leverrier detected the presence of an unknown 
planet by its influence on another planet. 

Mr. Wiggin was a Unitarian minister, a graduate of the 
Meadville (Pa.) Theological Seminary in the class of 
1861, who had retired from the active ministry in 1875, 
although for years he continued occasionally to occupy a 
pulpit. He was a large man physically, who had a rich 
sense of humor and enjoyed life. He was a lover of 
music, an inveterate theatergoer, and had Shakspere on 



^ History t p. 81, 
2 Ibid, p. 178. 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH'': MAKING OF THE BOOK 87 

the end of his tongue so that he could furnish an apt 
quotation from the poet to adorn any subject or occasion. 
Edward Everett Hale and other distinguished literary 
men were among his associates. He was a man of wide 
reading and fine cultiu^e and was specially fitted for the 
peculiar task to which he was called. 

One day in August, 1885, Calvin Frye called on Mr. 
Wiggin and introduced himself as the secretary of a lady 
who had written a book and wished to engage him to 
revise it. A few days later Mrs. Eddy herself appeared 
and completed the engagement. Mr. Wiggin went to 
work for her and continued to serve as her literary adviser 
and reviser for four years. Mrs. Eddy placed in his 
hands the bulky manuscript of a new edition of "'Science 
and Health'' which she had prepared, and Mr. Wiggin 
took it with him on his vacation for leisurely examination. 
Such examination soon showed him that the revision the 
book needed was practically a rewriting of it. "The 
faulty spelling and punctuation could have been corrected 
readily enough, as well as the incorrect historical refer- 
ences and the misuse of words; but the whole work was 
so involved, formless, and contradictory that Mr. Wiggin 
put the manuscript away and thought no more about it 
until he returned to Boston.'* 

Upon his return from his vacation he intimated to 
Mrs. Eddy his views about the book and his proposal as 
to what should be done with it, and to his surprise she 
willingly consented. During the autumn he worked upon 
the task of virtually rewriting the book, she keeping a 
close watch upon him to see that he did not change her 
teaching and that he continued to use her technical words 
in her peculiar sense. Miss Milmine gives several para- 



88 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

graphs as they appeared in the 1884 edition and the 
corresponding paragraphs as they appeared in the 1886 
edition as revised by Mr. Wiggin, and the reader will at 
once see the improvement in almost every sentence. 
The following paragraph is from the 1884 edition: 



What is man? Brains, heart, blood, or the entire human 
structure? If he is one or all of the component parts of the body, 
when you amputate a limb, you have taken away a portion of man, 
and the surgeon destroys manhood, and worms are annihilators of 
man. But losing a limb, or injuring structure, is sometimes the 
quickener of manliness; and the unfortunate cripple presents more 
nobility than the statuesque outline, whereby we find **a man's a 
man, for a' that." 

The same passage in the 1886 edition as revised by Mr. 
Wiggin reads: 

What is man? Brains, heart, blood, the material structure? If 
he is but a material body, when you amputate a limb, you must take 
away a portion of the man; the surgeon can destroy manhood, and 
the worms annihilate it. But the loss of a limb or injury to a tissue, 
is sometimes the quickener of manliness, and the unfortunate cripple 
may present more of it than the statuesque athlete, teaching us, by 
his very deprivations, that "a man's a man, for a' that." 

Sometimes, however, his revision went deeper than 
mere diction and cut into the form and substance of her 
teaching, as in the following instance. The paragraph is 
from Mrs. Eddy's own 1884 edition: 



The glorious spiritual signification of the life and not death of 
our Master — for he never died — was laying down all of earth to 
instruct his enemies the way to heaven, showing in the most sublime 
and unequivocal sense how heaven is obtained. The blood of Jesus 
was not as much offered on the cross as before those closing scenes of 
his earth mission. The spiritual meaning of blood is offering 
sacrifice, and the efficacy of his life offering was greater than that 
of his blood spilled upon the cross. It was the consecration of his 



•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH'': MAKING OF THE BOOK 89 

whole being upon the altar of Love, a deathless offering to Spirit. 
O, highest sense of human affections and higher spiritual conceptions 
of our Infinite Father ahd Mother, show us what is Love! 



The following is the same passage as rendered by Mr. 
Wiggin in the 1886 edition: 



The material blood of Jesus was no more eflBcacious to cleanse 
from sin, when it was shed upon the **accursed tree," than when it 
was flowing in his veins as he went daily about his Father's business. 
His spiritual flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat his 
flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that Life. The spiritual 
meaning of blood is sacrifice. The eflScacy of Jesus' spirit-offering 
was infinitely greater than can be expressed by our mortal sense of 
human life. His mission was fulfilled. It reunited God and man by 
his career. His offering was Love's deathless sacrifice; for in Jesus' 
experience the human element was gloriously expanded and absorbed 
into the divine. ^ 



Mr. Wiggin had a still deeper hand in the reconstruction 
of Mrs. Eddy's book. He actually supplied and was the 
author of one of the chapters that appeared in the 1886 
edition. He drew up for her the outline of a sermon 
upon the "city that lieth foursquare," which she preached 
in her pulpit on January 24, 1886, "with great success, 
though the Journal, in reporting the occasion, says that 
Rev. Mrs. Eddy laboured under some disadvantage, as 
she had left her manuscript at home.'* Mr. Wiggin was 
present in the audience and went up at the close of the 
service to speak to her as she stood in the midst of her 
admirers. When she saw him "her eyes began to twinkle, 
and, putting her hand to her lips, she shot him a stage 
whisper: 'How did it go?' '* Miss Milmine completes 
the story of the new chapter as follows: 

1 Milmine, History, pp. 329, 330. 



90 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

When Mr. Wiggin persuaded her to omit the libelous portion of 
the chapter on mesmerism from the 1886 edition of "Science and 
Health" after the plates for the edition had been made, Mrs. Eddy, 
at Mr. Wiggin's suggestion, cut this sermon to the required length 
and> by inserting it was able to send the book to press without 
renumbering the remaining pages. The chapter was called "Way- 
side Hints (Supplementary)," and Mrs. Eddy put her seal upon it 
by inserting under the subject of "squareness " a tribute to her 
deceased husband: "We need good square men everywhere. Such a 
man was my late husband, Dr. Asa G. Eddy.*'^ 

The reader of **Science and Health" as it stands to-day, 
however, will think that Mrs. Eddy's **paid polisher" 
still left much work that might have been done in im- 
proving that much-tinkered book. It is still characterized 
by affectation and obscurity and ineptitude and infinite 
repetition and especially by Mrs. Eddy's lingo or jargon 
of words which she uses in her own peculiar sense, though 
this lingo was also derived from Quimby and others of 
her literary forbears. She sometimes uses words with as 
ludicrous misapprehension of their real meaning as does 
Mrs. Partington. For instance, she thinks the name of 
the Assyrian god Sin is the same word as our word ''sin,"2 
thinks "mysticism'* means the same as "mystery,"^ 
frequently confuses "pantheism" with "materiality,"^ 
confuses "adulteration" with "adultery/' and makes 
many such mistakes that escaped the pen of her paid 
polisher. Some of her etymologies and definitions in 
her "Glossary" in "Science and Health" are fearfully 
and wonderfully made. "Abel" means "Watchfulness," 
"Canaan" means "A sensuous belief," "Dan" means 
"Animal magnetism," and "Gad" means "Science." We 

1 History, p. 335. 

2 Science and Health, p. 103. 

3 Ibid, p. 80. 

4 Ibid, p. 522. 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH"; MAKING OF THE BOOK 91 

had always thought very highly of Moses but in this 
"Glossary'* we learn to our disappointment that ''Moses" 
means "A corporeal mortal." This entrance in the 
Glossary is specially puzzling: ''IN. A term obsolete in 
Science if used with reference to Spirit, Deity." Hebrew 
etymology exercises little restraint upon Mrs. Eddy, 
although at times she airily refers to the Hebrew as if 
she knew all about it, forgetting that her knowledge of 
"Greek, Latin, and Hebrew," which her brother taught 
her when she was only nine years of age, "after" her 
"discovery of Christian Science" "vanished like a dream." 

A sense of humor would have saved Mrs. Eddy from 
all this, but she did not have a drop of it in her whole 
system. She takes all her pompous affectations of 
learning and shallow ignorance and ridiculous blun- 
ders and confused thinking and doggerel poetry and 
solemn incomprehensibilities in dead earnest. ^ They are 
all equally inspired and infallible to her. How did Mr. 
Wiggin, with all his sense of humor, restrain himself 
from loud laughter as his censor's pen passed these things? 
Doubtless he did go as far as he could or was permitted 
to go in cutting such things out, and as it was not his 
book he had to let its author have her way at many 
points which he would have quickly polished away. 

Doctor Powell, who is himself a good literary writer 
and critic, passes this judgment on this book: 

The diflBculty is not merely with the style, which though often 
marred by absurdity, turgidity, and faulty diction, possesses a 
certain lofty distinctiveness, a certain sonorous authoritativeness, 

1 Robert Hugh Benson, an English Roman Catholic prelate, 
says: "I am certain that Christian Science rises almost entirely from 
a lack of the sense of humor." A Book of Essays, p. 18. 



92 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

which a book that claims to be a revelation ought to have to com- 
mand the interest of the undiscriminating. The difficulty is also 
with the arrangement of the work. There is a woeful want of 
sequence both in thought and word. The reader can begin anywhere 
and stop anywhere without serious loss or gain. Mrs. Eddy in one 
section states that certain of her sentences read backward mean as 
much as when read forward, and many not of her persuasion will 
readily agree with her. . . Mrs. Eddy has undoubtedly improved 
greatly in her power to express herself on paper, since her literary 
helper twenty years ago testified she was constantly confusing such 
words as physics and physiology, gnostic and agnostic, and putting 
him to his wits' end to save her "from making herself ridiculous and 
flatly contradicting herself." But there is still some justification for 
Mark Twain's sweeping judgment that Mrs. Eddy **so lacks in the 
matter of literary precision that she can seldom put a thought into 
words that express it lucidly to the reader and leave no doubts in his 
mind as to whether he has rightly understood or not.^ 



This account of the relations of Mr. Wiggin with 
Mrs. Eddy is closed with a brief reference to the sad fate 
that finally overtook this good man. Like nearly all the 
students and associates and helpers of Mrs. Eddy, with the 
exception of Calvin A. Frye, he at length fell from her 
grace into deep condemnation. The devil of "M. A. M.'* 
at last got him. Signs of the coming end began when 
she charged him with a "most shocking flippancy in 
notations'* upon her proofs. He seems to have indulged 
in some humorous marginal scribblings, and she could 
not stand any humor or wit in him, as she could not 
appreciate it in anybody else. In a letter to her publisher 
in which she complains about the "flippancy" she says of 
him: "When he returned the first proofs a belief (but 
don't name this to anyone) prevented my examining them 
as I should otherwise have done, and, to prevent delay, 
the proof was sent to the printer." The "belief" referred 
to was simply an attack of illness which prevented Mrs. 

1 Christian Science, pp. 17-20. 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH": MAKING OF THE BOOK 93 

Eddy from examining Mr. Wiggin's proofs. He not only 
"changed his own marginal references'* but also "took 
back the word 'cannot' throughout the entire proofs, 
which he had before insisted upon using thereby causing 
another delay." Evidently her "paid polisher" was 
getting too independent and flippant toward her book, 
and this was a very grave offense in her sight. Three 
months later (November, 1890) she again complained 
about his proofs and says: "This is M. A. M. [Malicious 
Animal Magnetism] and it governs Wiggin as it has done 
once before to prevent the publishing of my work. . . I 
will take the proof-reading out of Wiggin's hands." 
This sealed his doom and he drops out of this history. 
In a letter to a college friend, from which a brief quotation 
has been made, dated December 14, 1889, and published 
by Miss Milmine in her "History," Mr. Wiggin gives his 
private view of Christian Science and of Mrs. Eddy, 
which Miss Milmine says is "an interesting criticism of 
Christian Science" and "probably the most trenchant 
and suggestive sketch of Mrs. Eddy that will ever be 
written." He was then about through with Mrs. Eddy 
and speaks confidentially but freely and unsparingly, yet 
not unkindly. The reader will be interested in the 
following extracts: 



Christian Science, on its theological side, is an ignorant revival 
of one form of ancient gnosticism, that Jesus is to be distinguished 
from the Christ, and that his earthly appearance was phantasmal, 
not real and fleshly. On its moral side, it involves what must follow 
from the doctrine that reality is a dream, and that if a thing is right 
in thought, why right it is, and sin is nonexistent, because God can 
behold no evil. Not that Christian Science believers generally see 
this, or practice evil, but the virus is within. 

Religiously, Christian Science is a revolt from orthodoxy, but 
unphilosophically conducted, endeavoring to ride two horses. Phys- 



94 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

ically it leads people to trust all to nature, the great healer, and so 
does some good. Great virtue in imagination! . . . Where there 
is disease which time will not reach. Christian Science is useless. 

As for the High Priestess of it, . . . She is — well I could tell 
you, but not write. An awfully (I use the word advisedly) smart 
woman, acute, shrewd, but not well read, nor in any way learned. 
What she has, as documents clearly show, she got from P. P. Quimby 
of Portland, Maine, whom she eulogized after death as the great 
leader and her special teacher. . . She tried to answer the charge 
of the adoption of Quimby's ideas, and called me in to counsel her 
about it; but her only answer in (print!) was that if she said such 
things twenty years ago, she must have been under the influence of 
"animal magnetism," which is her devil. No church can get along 
without a devil, you know. Much more I could say if you were 
here. 

One of Mrs. Eddy's followers went so far as to say that if she 
saw Mrs. Eddy commit a crime she should believe her own sight at 
fault, not Mrs. Eddy's conduct. An intelligent man told me in 
reference to lies he knew about, that the wrong was in us. "Was 
not Jesus accused of wrongdoing, yet guiltless.^" 

Only experience can teach these fanatics, i. e., the real believers, 
not the charlatans who go into it for money. . . As for the book, 
if you have any edition since December, 1885, it had my super- 
vision. Though now she is getting out an entirely new edition, 
with which I had nothing to do and occasionally she has made 

changes whereof I did not know. The chapter B told you of is 

rather fanciful, though, to use Mrs. Eddy's language in her last note, 
her "friends think it a gem." It is the one called "Wayside Hints,'* 
and was added after the work was not only in type, but cast, because 
she wished to take out some twenty pages of diatribe on her dis- 
senters. I do not think it will greatly edify you, the chapter. As 
for clearness, many Christian Science people thought her early 
editions much better, because they sounded more like Mrs. Eddy. 
The truth is, she does not care to have her paragraphs clear, and 
delights in so expressing herself that her words may have various 
readings and meanings. Really, that is one of the tricks of her trade. 
You know how sibyls have always been thus oracular, to "keep the 
word of promise to the ear, and break it to the hope." . . . No, 
Swedenborg, and all other such writers, are sealed books to her. 
She cannot understand such utterances, and never could, but 
dollars and cents she understands thoroughly. l 

5. MRS. EDDY'S CLAIMS TO DIVINE INSPIRATION 

The bottom of the alleged basis and origin of this book 
has not yet been reached. A divinely accredited and 

1 History, pp. 337-339. 



•SCIENCE AND HEALTH": MAKING OF THE BOOK 95 

well-equipped religion must have an inspired revelation 
or Bible, and Mrs. Eddy did not overlook this point. 
She nowhere acknowledged her indebtedness to Mr. 
Quimby and Mr. Wiggin for their part in the production 
of "Science and Health," but she was voluble in her claims 
that God helped her to write it, or rather that he wrote 
it so that it was, as she called it, "God's book." She 
began to hint at this claim as early as 1877 when, in a 
letter to a student, she said: "I know the crucifixion of 
the one who presents Truth in its higher aspect will be 
this time through a bigger error, through mortal mind 
instead of its lower strata or matter, showing that the 
idea given of God this time is higher, clearer, and more 
permanent than before."^ 

In her autobiography we may read: 

The divine hand led me into a new world of light and Life, a 
fresh universe — old to God, but new to his *'little one." 

And a little further on we read: 

Even the Scriptures gave no direct interpretation of the scientific 
basis for demonstrating the spiritual Principle of healing, until our 
heavenly Father saw fit, through the "Key to the Scriptures," in 
'^Science and Health," to unlock this *'mystery of religion. "2 

This puts ''Science and Health" with *'Key to the 
Scriptures " above the Bible as a later and more perfect 
revelation, "higher, clearer, and more permanent," as 
she herself says. One may read in this book such state- 
ments as " when God impelled me," and " God has since 
shown me." 

1 Milmine, History, p. 73. • 

2 Retrospection and Introspection, pp. 27 and 37. 



96 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Turning to ^'Science and Health" we read: 

In the year 1866, I discovered the Science of Metaphysical 
Healing, and named it Christian Science. God had been graciously 
fitting me, during many years, for the reception of a final revelation 
of the absolute Principle of Scientific Mind-healing. No human 
pen or tongue taught me the science contained in this book. . . 
and neither tongue nor pen can overthrow it.^ 

The advent of this understanding is what is meant by the descent 
of the Holy Ghost — that influx of divine Science which so illumi- 
nated the Pentecostal Day and is now repeating ancient history. 
... In the words of St. John: **He shall give you another Com- 
forter, that he may abide with you forever,^* This Comforter I 
understand to be divine Science. 2 

Writing in 1901 she said: 

I should blush to write of "Science and Health,*' with "Key to the 
Scriptures" as I have, were it of human origin and I, apart from God, 
its author, but as I am only a scribe echoing the harmonies of 
Heaven in divine metaphysics, I cannot be supermodest of the 
Christian Science textbook. ^ 

In every Christian Science church every sermon by 
the rules of the church is preceded by the following 
declaration: 

The canonical writings, together with the word of our textbook 
("Science and Health"), corroborating and explaining the Bible 
texts in their spiritual import and application to all ages, past, 
present and future, constitute a sermon undivorced from truth, un- 
contaminated and unfettered by human hypotheses, and authorized 
by Christ. 

In ''Miscellaneous Writings" she says: 

The works I have written on Christian Science contain absolute 
Truth, and my necessity was to tell it; therefore I did this even as a 
surgeon who wounds to heal. I was a scribe under orders; and who 
can refrain from transcribing what God indites, and ought not that 
one take the cup, drink all of it, and give thanks?^ 

1 Science and Health, 1898 edition, pp. 550 ff. 

2 Ibid, 1916 edition, pp. 43 and 55. 

3 Peabody, Masquerade, p. 57. 

4 Page 3. 



•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH": MAKING OF THE BOOK 97 

Once more, to conclude these claims of inspiration 
which might be further multipKed, in her organ, the 
Christian Science Journal, of January, 1901, Mrs. Eddy 
says: 

It was not myself . . . which dictated "Science and Health" 
with "Key to the Scriptures." It was the divine power of Truth 
and Love, infinitely above me.^ 

She thus boldly and unblushingly claims that her book 
is not "of human origin,'' but was "dictated" by "divine 
Truth and Love," and revelation by "dictation" is the 
extremest form of plenary verbal inspiration. 

But this is not the limit. Something far more 
painful is yet to come. Mrs. Eddy's followers are daring 
enough, and she herself does not hesitate, to exalt her to 
equality with Christ and crown her with deity. In 
"Science and Health," 1898 edition, she says: 

The impersonation of the Spiritual idea had a brief history in the 
earthly life of our Master; but of his kingdom there shall be no end; 
for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations and peoples — 
imperatively, absolutely, finally — with Divine Science. This im- 
maculate idea, represented first by man and last by woman, will 
baptize with fire. 2 

In her autobiography she writes: 

No person can take the individual place of the Virgin Mary. No 
person can compass or fulfill the individual mission of Jesus of 
Nazareth. No person can take the place of the author of ''Science 
and Health," the discoverer and founder of Christian Science. ^ 

In the Christian Science Journal for April, 1889, 

1 Mark Twain, Christian Science, p. 144. 

2 Page 550. 

3 Introspection and Retrospection, p. 95. 



98 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

which was then owned and pubHshed by Mrs. Eddy, an 
article appeared which made an elaborate argument to 
prove that she was the equal of Jesus. "Now a word," 
said the writer, "about the horror many good people 
have of our making the author of 'Science and Health' 
equal with Jesus."^ 

In 1894 Mrs. Eddy wrote and published a "poem" 
illustrated with a picture in which Jesus is represented 
as seated on a stone holding the right hand of a woman, 
who in her left hand holds a scroll bearing the inscription 
"Christian Science," thus identifying the woman with 
Mrs. Eddy herself. About the head of each figure there 
is a halo, and on the opposite page, illustrated by the 
picture, are the lines, "As in blessed Palestine's hour, 
so in our age 'tis the, same hand unfolds his Power and 
writes the page." Mrs. Eddy not only wrote the "poem," 
but also claimed a share in making the illustrations, 
"which," Mr. Peabody says, "her man Hanna called 
^exquisite bits of art,' but which are, doubtless, the 
vulgarest products of the art of bookmaking of many 
years. "2 This performance called forth such an outcry 
of protest and indignation, even from some of her followers, 
that she withdrew the little book (which was sold for $3.00) 
from circulation, with the remark, "Scientists sometimes 
take things too seriously." 

Mrs. Eddy early began to identify herself with the 
"woman" in the book of Revelation. She quotes ch. 
12 :1 and then says : "The Revelator saw also the spiritual 
ideal as a woman clothed in light, a bride coming down 
from heaven, wedded to the Lamb of Love. . . The 

1 Peabody, Masquer ade, p. 51. 

2 Masquerade, pp. 51, 52. 



•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH": MAKING OF THE BOOK 99 

woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man, the 
spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence of 
God and man as the divine Principle and divine idea."l 
In time she began to think of herself as the incarnation 
of the motherhood of God, and the idea that she should be 
worshiped as the correlative and coequal of the Father 
was not unwelcome to her mind. This seems to be the 
purport and point of her audacity in rendering the opening 
of The Lord's Prayer as "Our Father-Mother God.'* 
In the nineties "Mother Mary" became a common desig- 
nation of her by her followers. Everybody spoke of her 
as "Mother." She sometimes signed herself "Mother 
Mary." The President of the National Christian Science 
Association on one occasion said, "There is but one Moses, 
one Jesus; and there is but one Mary."^ 

This idea culminated in one of the by-laws of her 
church, written by herself, which reads as follows: 

The Title of Mother. In the year 1895 loyal Christian Scientists 
had given the author of their textbook, the Founder of Christian 
Science, the individual and endearing term of Mother. Therefore, 
if a student of Christian Science shall apply this title, either to 
herself or to others, except as the term for kinship according to the 
flesh, it shall be regarded by the Church as an indication of dis- 
respect for their pastor emeritus, and unfitness to be a member of 
the mother church. ^ 

Thus was this woman deified by her followers and 
herself, exalted to equality with and, indeed, to superiority 
to, Christ and finally raised to equality with God himself, 
and possibly she meant to join her name with his in the 
adoration of our Father-Mother God! 

^ Science and Healthy pp. 560, 561. 

2 Powell, Christian Science, pp. 150, 151. 

3 In later editions of the Church Manual, Christian Scientists are 
L instructed to substitute "Leader'* for "Mother.'* 



100 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

There is, however, an interesting sequel to this matter 
of Mrs. Eddy's use of the name "mother." After the v 

appearance of Mark Twain's sarcastic book in which he < 

punctures with his sharp pen many of the pretensions 
of Mrs. Eddy she issued a statement in the press in which 
she said: 

In view of the circulation of certain criticisms from the pen of 
Mark Twain, I submit the following statement: It is a fact, well 
understood, that I begged the students who first gave me the en- 
dearing apellative "Mother" not to name me thus. But, without 
my consent, that word spread like wildfire. I still must think the 
name is not applicable to me. I stand in relation to this century 
as a Christian discoverer, founder, and leader. I regard self- 
deification as blasphemous; I may be more loved, but I am less 
lauded, pampered, provided for, and cheered than others before me 
— and wherefore? Because Christian Science is not yet popular, 
and I refuse adulation. . . I believe in but one incarnation, one 
Mother Mary, and I know I am not that one, and never claimed to 
be. 

Mark Twain did not fail to see and seize his opportunity, 
and he replies to her in a scintillating chapter in his book, 
the opening sentences of which are: "T feel almost sure 
that Mrs. Eddy's inspiration works are getting out of 
repair. I think so because they made some errors in a 
statement which she uttered through the press on the 
17th of January." The following is an extract: 

She still thinks the name of our Mother not applicable to her; 
and she is also able to remember that it distressed her when it was 
conferred upon her, and that she begged to have it suppressed. Her 
memory is at fault here. If she will take her by-laws, and refer to 
Section 1 of Article XXII, written with her own hand — she will find 
that she has reserved that title to herself, and is so pleased with it 
that she threatens with excommunication any sister Scientist who 
shall call herself by it. 

He also reproduces a telegram she sent on May 27, 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH'^ MAKING OF THE BOOK 101 

1890, to the National Christian Science Association 
then in session in Nfew York in reply to one from the 
secretary of the association, who was ''instructed to send 
to our Mother greetings and words of affection from her 
assembled children/' Her response was: "All hail! 
He hath filled the hungry with good things and the sick 
hath he not sent empty away. — Mother Mary/* 

"Thus it stands proven," continues Mark Twain, 
"and established that she is that Mary and isn't, and 
thought she was and knows she wasn't. That much is 
clear. She is also 'The Mother,' by the election of 1895, 
and did not want the title, and thinks it is not applicable 
to her, and will excommunicate anyone that tries to take 
it away from her. So that is clear." Mark Twain was 
also distressed because Mrs. Eddy perverted the Scripture 
text she used in her telegram (which reads, in Luke 1 :53, 
"and the rich hath he sent empty away") and marveled 
that this perversion "in that massed convention of trained 
Christians created no astonishment, since it caused no 
remark, and the business of the convention went tran- 
quilly on, thereafter, as if nothing had happened."^ 

It stands indelibly written in her own writings, however, 
that she did make all these claims to divine inspiration and 
equality with Jesus, if not with God, and did adopt and 
use the name "Mother Mary," and forbade others to 
use it under pain of excommunication, and her subsequent 
denial of these claims is only one more instance of her 
inveracity, proved out of her own mouth. 

^ Mark Twain, Christian Science, pp. 331-342. 



CHAPTER VI 
•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH": THE CONTENTS OP THE BOOK 

It is difficult to give a condensed summary of the 
contents of ''Science and Health'* because of the lack of 
order and system in its arrangement and in its ideas. 
The chapters themselves have several times been shifted 
around in a different order, and they might be shuffled 
again without any loss of logic. The very titles of the 
chapters sometimes have little aptness as designations 
of their contents. The order of the paragraphs in the 
chapters also follows no inherent plan and progress and 
frequently baffles the reader to find and follow any thread 
of connection. There are only a few fundamental ideas 
in the book, and these are endlessly iterated and reiterated 
until one's sense of interest and attention is dulled into 
drowsiness: reading the book is like listening to a player 
on a violin who keeps sawing on one string and making 
few variations on that. One really has to maintain a 
firm grip on his attention to keep from falling into a stupor 
while perusing these monotonous pages. The style is 
trying enough because of its peculiar lingo and its frequent 
obscurity, although there are passages of clear English 
and here and there a purple patch of fine writing, some of 
these patches, however, being affected and stilted to a 
degree. Of course, also, there is much truth in the book, 
even fundamental truth and wholesome teaching, wheat 
in its chaflf, grains of gold in its sand, and this will be 

102 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH" : CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 103 

brought out later. The present purpose, however, is 
to seize the principal points in each chapter and illustrate 
them with brief quotations. There is danger, it is true, 
in making such quotations of tearing them out of their 
context so as to pervert their meaning, but the author 
will guard against this tendency and will endeavor 
only to let Mrs. Eddy express her ideas in her own way. 

1. PRAYER 

The book starts abruptly in the middle of things 
with seventeen pages of rambhng remarks and paragraphs 
on prayer, with little apparent continuity and progression. 
The point most frequently mentioned and strongly em- 
phasized is that prayer is a subjective state which is not 
helped but hindered by audible expression and that its 
value is purely its reflex and subjective influence. "Audi- 
ble prayer is impressive; it gives momentary solemnity 
and elevation to thought. But does it produce any 
lasting benefit? Looking deeply into these things, we find 
that 'a zeal not according to knowledge' gives occasion 
for reaction unfavorable to spiritual growth, sober resolve, 
and wholesome perception of God's requirements." The 
reader is therefore told that "lips must be silent and 
materialism silent," and that "we must close the lips 
and silence the materialistic senses." In accordance with 
this teaching only silent prayer is engaged in at Christian 
Science services, with the exception of the repetition of 
The Lord's Prayer together with Mrs. Eddy's inter- 
pretation of it. 

It is expressly declared that "God is not influenced 
by man," and that "prayer cannot change the Science 
of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. 



99 



104 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

The usual obsession as to the nonreahty of matter and 
sin runs through the chapter. In praying "we must 
deny sin and plead God's allness," and yet sin is also 
constantly spoken of as a reality. 

The chapter concludes with Mrs. Eddy's interpretation 
which she says she understands "to be the spiritual sense 
of The Lord's Prayer." It is here given as it stands 
in the 1916 edition of the book, but an entirely different 
version of her interpretation appeared in earlier editions 
of the same book. 



Our Father which art in heaven. 

Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious. 
Hallowed be thy name. 

Adorable One, 
Thy kingdom come. 

Thy kingdom come: Thou art ever-present. 
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 

Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, — God is omnip^ 
otent, supreme. 
Give us this day our daily bread. 

Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections. 
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

And Love is reflected in love; 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; 

And God leadeth us not into temptation, but deliver eth us 
from sin, disease, and death. 
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
for ever. 

For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, 
and All, 

2. ATONEMENT AND EUCHARIST 

This chapter extends to thirty-eight pages, but very 
little of it relates either to the atonement or the Eucharist. 
In reading these pages one soon gets the impression that 
one chapter runs without change of subject into another 
and that all are cut from the same cloth. The reader is 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 105 

told at once that ''the atonement of Christ reconciles man 
to God, not God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ 
is God, and how can God propitiate himself?" The 
chapter never gets beyond the subjective influence of the 
atonement, or the moral influence theory of it. ''The 
atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scientific 
explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense 
which Truth destroys, and eventually both sin and 
suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting love." The 
atonement is indeed "a hard problem in theology," but 
no light is imparted in the statement that "suffering is an 
error of sinful sense," when the reality of both "suffering" 
and "sinful sense" is denied and these are declared to be 
"nothing." "Divine Science reveals the necessity of 
sufficient suffering, either before or after death, to quench 
the love of sin. To remit the penalty due for sin, would 
be for Truth to pardon error." It is puzzhng to know 
how there can be a "necessity of sufficient suffering" 
when "suffering" is "nothing"; and the reader may be 
satisfied with the orthodoxy of the statement that "to 
remit the penalty due for sin, would be for Truth to 
pardon error" until one remembers that both "penalty" 
and "sin" are "dreams" of "mortal mind." Mrs. Eddy 
has the courage of her convictions when she declares that 
"the universal belief in death is of no advantage," and 
that "death will be found at length to be a mortal dream, 
which comes in darkness and disappears with the light." 
As soon as we quit believing in death, death itself will 
cease. 

The Eucharist which Christian Scientists observe is not 
the Lord's Supper which Jesus instituted with his disciples 
on the evening before his crucifixion, but is the "morning 



106 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

meal" at which he was present with his disciples on the 
shore of the Sea of GaHlee after his resurrection. The 
disciples, it will be recalled, had spent a night of fruitless 
toil in fishing on the lake when Jesus appeared on the 
shore and called to them to cast the net on the right side 
of the boat, and then they drew the net up swollen full. 
Here is Mrs. Eddy's account and interpretation of this 
incident: 



Convinced of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened 
by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned away 
from material things, and cast their net on the right side. Dis- 
cerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of time, they were enabled 
to rise somewhat from mortal sensuousness, or the burial of mind in 
matter, into newness of life as Spirit. This spiritual meeting with 
our Lord in the dawn of the new light is the morning meal which 
Christian Scientists commemorate. 



This is a characteristic instance of the way in which 
Mrs. Eddy handles Scripture. She frequently quotes it, 
but often there is no remotest connection between her 
**science" and her Scripture "proof.'' Out of any text 
she extracts the most fanciful or fantastic meaning that 
suits her purpose, or rather she blandly attributes such a 
meaning to a text. The simple act of casting the net on 
the right side of the boat is made to mean that the dis- 
ciples **turned away from material things'* and "were 
enabled to rise somewhat from mortal sensuousness, or 
the burial of mind in matter, into newness of life as 
Spirit." According to this method of exegesis, anything 
can mean anything and all is indeed a "dream," it may 
be of "mortal mind," but certainly not of a rational mind. 

The chapter concludes with another characteristic 



'SCIENCE AND HEALTH" : CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 107 

misuse and perversion of Scripture, as follows: "In the 
words of Saint John: 'He shall give you another Com- 
forter, that he may abide with you forever.' This Com- 
forter I understand to be divine Science"! 



3. MARRIAGE 

This chapter contains fourteen pages, much of it having 
no connection with its subject, but frequently slipping 
into the obsession that "we must not attribute more and 
more intelligence to matter, but less and less, if we would 
be wise and healthy." This notion that everybody, 
except Christian Scientists, does "attribute intelligence 
to matter" runs all through these pages and receives 
endless repetition, whereas of course nobody, except an 
occasional crass materialist, does anything of the kind. 
This is only another instance of Mrs. Eddy's ignorance 
of what she is talking about. 

Many good sentiments are expressed in this chapter 
as to the relation of husband and wife. "Kindred tastes, 
natures, and aspirations are necessary to the formation 
of a happy and permanent companionship." Divorce is 
discouraged, and "mutual compromises will often maintain 
a compact which otherwise might become unbearable." 
"Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender, and strong." 
"The entire education of children should be such as to 
form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law, 
with which the child can meet and master the belief in 
so-called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease." 
But again she is slipping into her obsession, which she 
can hardly avoid for a single paragraph. Children are 
to be deliberately taught that there^ is no such thing 



108 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

as "physical laws/* and this falsehood is to be crammed 
into them in their earliest education. ^ 

Mrs. Eddy's peculiar view as to the marriage relation 
appears in the very first paragraph of this chapter and 
runs as a subtle undertone all through it. She begins by 
quoting what Jesus said to John the Baptist in relation 
to his own baptism: "SuflFer it now: for thus it becometh 
us to fulfil all righteousness.'' Her inference (and, as 
usual, a false one) from this passage is: '* Jesus' concessions 
(in certain cases) to material methods were for the advance- 
ment of spiritual good." The point of this inference is 
that marriage is only a temporary arrangement to be 
regarded only as long as we believe in "'mortal mind" and 
is to be cast aside as soon as we rise above this delusion. 
**The human mind will at length demand a higher affec- 
tion," and '*there will ensue a fermentation over this as 
over many other reforms." These views run through the 
chapter, and they are specifically set forth in the following 
paragraphs: 

Marriage is the legal and moral provision for generation among 
human kind. Until the spiritual creation is discerned intact, is 
apprehended and understood, and his kingdom is come as in the 
vision of the Apocalypse — where the corporeal sense of creation was 
cast out, and its spiritual sense was revealed from heaven — marriage 
will continue, subject to such moral regulations as will secure in- 
creasing virtue. . . Until it is learned that God is the Father of all, 
marriage will continue. . . Beholding the world's lack of Chris- 
tianity and the powerlessness of vows to make home happy, the 
human mind will at length demand a higher affection. There will 
ensue a fermentation over this as over many other reforms, until we 
get at last the clear straining of truth, and impurity and error are left 

1 A pastor told the author that when visiting in a Christian Science 
home he heard a little girl, who was suffering with a severe cold, 
when asked how she was, gasp out with choking voice, "There is no 
matter, God is love.'* 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 109 

among the lees. The fermentation even of fluids is not pleasant. 
An unsettled, transitional stage is never desirable on its own account. 
Matrimony, which was once a fixed fact among us, must lose its 
present slippery footing, and man must find permanence and peace 
in a more spiritual adherence. . . Proportionately as human 
generation ceases, the unbroken links of eternal, harmonious being 
will be spiritually discerned. 

These statements are vague and "slippery," but their 
meaning is reasonably clear. Marriage is a legal and moral 
temporary provision, which must be tolerated for the 
present because we have not yet learned that *'God is the 
Father of all,'* and because of our **lack of Christianity," 
but when we attain to this through Mrs. Eddy's "Science" 
and know that she herself is the "woman" in the vision 
of the Apocalypse," 1 then ''the human mind will demand a 
higher affection. . . Matrimony, which was once a fixed 
fact among us, must lose its present slippery footing, and 
man must find permanence and peace in a more spiritual 
adherence." In a word, marriage must go! This "reform" 
will be attended with "fermentation" and "fermentation 
is not pleasant," but despite the trouble of getting rid of 
it, marriage must go! It "was once a fixed fact among 
us," but already it is growing fluid and will presently 
evaporate into "a more spiritual adherence." It is to 
be understood that all this does not refer to any future 
spiritual world, but to the world that now is when freed 
from "mortal mind" by "Christian Science." Marriage 
will then be done with and people will form "a more 
spiritual adherence." 

It will not be diflficult for some of the votaries of this 
doctrine to believe that they already know that "God 
is the Father of all" and that therefore they are ready to 

^ See page 98. 



110 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

discard this **once fixed fact among us'* and form this 
"more spiritual adherence." In fact, it is only a step 
from the belief in this doctrine to the practice of free 
love. Mrs. Eddy discouraged marriage among her follow- 
ers, though she practiced it liberally herself, and in spite 
of the fact that she gives some good advice on the subject 
of marriage in this chapter, she yet lays the ax at the 
very root of the tree. 

4. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE VERSUS SPIRITUALISM 

Of the one hundred and seventeen paragraphs in this 
chapter only forty-eight can be held to refer even remotely 
to spiritualism. The first paragraph assures the reader 
that "the testimony of the corporeal senses cannot inform 
us what is real and what is delusive, but the revelations 
of Christian Science unlock the treasures of Truth." The 
main contention running through all these paragraphs is 
the wearisome repetition of the obsession that "suffering, 
sinning, dying behefs are unreal.'' 

In the fifth paragraph of the chapter Mrs. Eddy at- 
tempts to indulge in a little reasoning to support her main 
contention, something that seldom occurs in these pages 
of pure dogmatic assertion. The paragraph runs as 
follows : 



Close your eyes, and you may dream that you see a flower — that 
you touch and smell it. Thus you learn that the flower is a product 
of the so-called mind, a formation of thought rather than of matter. 
Close your eyes again, and you may see landscapes, men, and 
women. Thus you learn that these also are images, which mortal 
mind holds and evolves and which simulate mind, life, and intelli- 
gence. From dreams also you learn that neither mortal mind nor 
matter is the image or likeness of God, and that immortal Mind is 
not matter. 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 111 

Thus Mrs. Eddy confuses and identifies images of the 
imagination, or images that we "dream," with memory 
images which are revived impressions made on the senses 
by external objects, a radical distinction that can be 
tested and proved and refuses to yield to Mrs. Eddy's 
claim that all our ideas are wholly the product of "mortal 
mind." 

As to the subject of the chapter, Mrs. Eddy says, "I 
never could believe in spiritualism," yet that she did 
both believe in and practice it in her early years is es- 
tablished by indisputable evidence. ^ Her reason for 
rejecting spirit communications is that spirits could 
not enter into relations with mortal minds, for this would 
mix mind and matter, which are irreconcilable, being 
"opposite dreams." "No correspondence nor communion 
can exist between persons in such opposite dreams as 
the belief of having died and left a material body and the 
belief of still living in an organic, material body." The 
condition of the dead is repeatedly spoken of in this 
chapter as being also a "dream" state. The very idea 
of death is a dream. "When you can waken yourself 
out of the belief that all must die, you can then exercise 
Jesus' spiritual power to reproduce the presence of those 
who have thought they have died — but not otherwise." 
Here it appears that the dead are still laboring under a 
delusion, they "have thought they have died." 

In the midst of this chapter there are inserted five 
"postulates" which are equally the postulates of all the 
chapters of this book and may be taken as the funda- 
mentals of Christian Science. They are as follows: 

1 Page 30. 



112 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Certain erroneous postulates should be here considered in order 
that the spiritual facts may be better apprehended. 

The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance, life, and 
intelligence are something apart from God. 

The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both mental and 
material. 

The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil and good; 
whereas the real mind cannot be evil nor the medium of evil, for 
mind is God. 

The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is intelligent, and 
that man has a material body which is part of himself. 

The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in itself the 
issues of life and death — that matter is not only capable of ex- 
periencing pleasure and pain, but also capable of imparting these 
sensations. From the illusions implied in this last postulate arises 
the decomposition of mortal bodies in what is termed death. 



Let it be noted that mind is God and that there are no 
substance, life, and inteUigence apart from God, and this 
fact is the fundamental pantheism of Christian Science. 
We are frequently told that man is only an "idea" or a 
"reflection" of God and has no existence apart from God. 
Let it also be noted that "pleasure" as well as "pain" is 
an experience of "mortal mind" and is a delusion to be 
got rid of. All knowledge derived through or suggested 
by our senses is to become "extinct," and the perfect 
state of Christian Science appears to be one of pure 
passive unconsciousness in which the human soul is merged 
in God as raindrops in the sea. 

5. ANIMAL MAGNETISM UNMASKED 

In this chapter Mrs. Eddy deals with her deepest 
obsession, the evil power of one "mortal mind" over 
another, which, developed into a veritable devil in her 
household and got into her kitchen utensils and stopped 
up her drain pipes and involved her in ever so many 
quarrels and lawsuits and became the Satan of her religion. 



•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH" : CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 113 

The brief chapter of seven pages opens with a reference 
to ^'Mesmerism in Germany in 1775," and mixed into it 
is the usual proportion of matter that gets off from the 
subject as announced in the title and reverts to the per- 
petual obsession that '*in reality there is no mortal mind, 
and consequently no transference of mortal thought and 
will-power," which is a downright contradiction of the 
teaching of the chapter that "mortal mind" is a "mur- 
derer." "As named in Christian Science, animal magnet- 
ism or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal 
mind." Here "animal magnetism" is identified with 
"hypnotism" and both of these with "mortal mind." 
These definitions are confusing. And anyhow, how can 
there be any "animal magnetism" when there isn't any 
"animal".^ Sometimes one thinks one knows what 
"mortal mind" is and then again one is given a jolt and 
finds he is wrong. In the "Glossary" of this book "Mortal 
Mind" is defined as "Nothing claiming to be something," 
and then follows a series of definitions extending to a dozen 
lines in which it is said to be all sorts of things, chiefly 
certain "beliefs." Now it turns out to be "hypnotism," 
which is defined by Webster as "a state resembling sleep." 
But whatever it is or it is not, "mortal mind" is capable 
of doing things, for we are asked: "Is it not clear that the 
human mind must move the body to a wicked act.f^ 
Is not mortal mind the mm*derer.f^ The hands, without 
mortal mind to direct them, could not commit murder." 
It is not clear how all this can be done when both "the 
hands" and "mortal mind" are "nothing claiming to be 
something." 

In this chapter Mrs. Eddy endeavors to make it out that 
the courts should exercise jurisdiction over "mortal 



114 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

mind." '*To say that these tribunals have no juris- 
diction over the carnal or mortal mind, would be to con- 
tradict precedent and to admit that the power of human 
law is restricted to matter, while mortal mind, evil, 
which is the real outlaw, defies justice and is recommended 
to mercy. . . Mortal mind, not matter, is the criminal 
in every case." It will be recalled how she was implicated 
in bringing suit against Daniel H. Spofford on the ground 
that he had exercised the ^'malicious animal magnetism" 
of ''mortal mind" against one of her students and thereby 
she endeavored to revive the principle and spirit of trial 
for witchcraft in Salem, Mass.l The judge dismissed 
the case 'Vith a smile," but if it had succeeded it would 
have been a reversion to one of the most fearful delusions 
that ever cursed the world. 



6. SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, MEDICINE 

This chapter extends to fifty-eight pages and is divided 
into three sections with the three title words of the chapter 
as subheads, but the divisions have little to do with the 
substance of the thought, which runs on in the same 
general stream of intermingled and confused ideas. 

In this chapter there is a statement of *'the fundamental 
propositions of divine methaphysics," which Mrs. Eddy 
says, "are summarized in the four following, to me, self- 
evident propositions. Even if reversed, these propositions 
will be found to agree in statement and proof, showing 
mathematically their exact relation to Truth. De Quin- 
cey says that mathematics has not a foot to stand 

^ Page 45. 



•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 115 

upon which is not purely methaphysical." The four 
propositions are as follows: 



1. God is All-in-all. 

2. God is good. Good is Mind. 

3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter. 

4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin, disease — 
Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipotent God, Life. 



Much is made by Christian Scientists of this "reversion" 
as a "proof of these propositions. It is said tnat they 
read backward. just as well as forward, but this is a mere 
verbal device and claim and has no logical value. It 
is one of those neat little rhetorical contrivances that 
please childish minds. It may also be said that these 
propositions are not the only sentences in this book that 
may be read backward as well as forward. 

As to the four self-evident propositions, they are dog- 
matic assertions that appeal to those to whom they appeal. 
The first one, "God is All-in-all," together with its re- 
version, "All-in-all is God," is pantheism pm-e and simple. 
The second proposition is not strictly reversible, for 
"good" in the first form is an adjective or attribute, and 
has to be turned into a noun or substance in the second 
form. The fourth proposition uses the word "deny" 
in the sense of "destroy" or "annihilate" "death, evil, 
sin, disease," and in this sense the proposition, when 
"reversed," is not true even according to Christian 
Science, for surely death and sin do not destroy "om- 
nipotent God." 

In this chapter is given a more specific statement of 
how Christian Science heals disease. It is denied in 
this chapter and throughout the book that this system 



116 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

heals by mental suggestion or human will power or by any 
form of faith cure. ''Human will-power is not science. 
Human will belongs to the so-called material senses, 
and its use is to be condemned. Willing the sick to 
recover is not the metaphysical practice of Christian 
Science, but is sheer animal magnetism.'* In the Preface 
we may read: *'They [mental healers] regard the human 
mind as a healing agent, whereas this mind is not a factor 
in the principle of Christian Science." Healing is gen- 
erally attributed to Mind, which word, when capitalized, 
always means God. It is the mere knowledge of or 
belief in this Mind that heals disease, and not any faith 
or action of the human mind itself. 

And yet the action of the human mind in healing is 
frequently emphasized. The Christian Science practi- 
tioner is told to "deny" disease, and the patient is urged to 
do the same thing. Healing by ''argument" is explicitly 
explained on page 412. When a child falls on the carpet 
and "thinks she has hurt her face," the mother is told to 
say to it, "Oh, never mind! You're not hurt, so don't 
think you are." On the same page (153) where this 
precious advice is given, we are told: "The human mind 
acts more powerfully to offset the discords of matter 
and the ills of the flesh, in proportion as it puts less weight 
into the material or fleshly scale and more weight into the 
spiritual scale." Mrs. Eddy in spite of her denials that 
her system is one of faith cure frequently makes statements 
and uses illustrations that imply the action of the human 
mind and the faith cure principle in the healing of disease. 
"It is related," she says, "that Sir Humphrey Davy 
once apparently cured a case of paralysis simply by in- 
troducing a thermometer into the patient's mouth. 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 117 

This he did merely to ascertain the temperature of the 
patient's body; but the sick man supposed this ceremony 
was intended to heal him, and he recovered accordingly. 
Such a fact illustrates our theories.'* It does indeed, 
and this method is the real principle and virtue of Christian 
Science. 

Mrs. Eddy constantly confuses subjective experiences 
with objective causes. For example; 

You say a boil is painful; but that is impossible, for matter without 
mind is not painful. The boil simply manifests, through inflam- 
mation and swelling, a belief in pain, and this belief is called a boil. 
Now administer mentally to your patient a high attenuation of 
truth, and it will soon cure the boil. The fact that pain cannot 
exist where there is no mortal mind to feel it is proof that this 
so-called mind makes its own pain — that is, its own belief in pain. 

It is true enough that pain cannot exist where there is 
no mind to experience it, but there is an objective cause 
for the pain, and that objective cause is the real boil. It 
is just at this point that Mrs. Eddy misses and perverts 
the position of philosophical idealism, as held by Berkeley, 
and that her system goes to pieces on the rock of objective 
reality. 

7. PHYSIOLOGY 

This chapter of thirty-six pages may be summarized 
in one of its sentences: "Mind has no affinity with matter, 
and therefore Truth is able to cast out the ills of the flesh," 
a sentence that equally summarizes all these chapters. 
The first sentence says that * 'Physiology is one of the 
apples from 'the tree of knowledge,* " or forbidden fruit 
which brought death into our world and all its woe. All 
through the chapter anatomy, physiology, hygiene, the 



118 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

laws of health, food, "flesh-brush, flannels, bath, diet, 
exercise, and air,'* are excommunicated as the real "mortal 
mind" and the true cause of disease. The usual self- 
contradictions and amazing assertions are plentiful. 
"What is termed disease does not exist. It is neither 
mind nor matter.'* This is mystifying, for over and over 
again Mrs. Eddy says that disease is a form or delusion 
of "mortal mind" and that "mortal mind" is "matter." 
Now the follower of Christian Science is told that disease 
is "neither mind nor matter." "Disease does not exist," 
and yet on the same page is the statement that "sickness 
is a growth of error," and "what causes disease cannot 
cure it." What has "no existence" is yet a "growth" 
and something "causes" it. 

Among the contradictions in this chapter is the usual 
way of speaking of the natural sciences in one place as 
real and in another place as having no existence. 
"Through astronomy, natural history, chemistry, music, 
mathematics, thought passes naturally from effect back 
to cause," and yet "the so-called laws of matter are nothing 
but false beliefs," and "treatises on anatomy, physiology, 
and health, sustained by what is termed material law, 
are the promoters of sickness and disease." On one page 
"faith in drugs begets and fosters disease," and on another 
page "mortal belief is all that enables a drug to cure mortal 
ailments," which after all admits that a drug can cure. 

Marvelous things are brought to light in this chapter. 
"Our ancestors. . . were innocent as Adam, before he 
ate the fruit of false knowledge, of the existence of lungs" — 
they did not know they had any lungs and therefore they 
really had none! We have them simply because we believe 
we have them. The blacksmith's strong arm is not due 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH"; CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 119 

to his exercise of it, but to "the blacksmith's faith in 
exercise." The hammer that he wields '*is not increased 
in size by exercise," '^because nobody believes that mind 
is producing such a result on the hammer." If the 
blacksmith only believed it, his hammer would grow along 
with his muscle! Even horses appear to be subject to 
Christian Science principles, for ^'yon can even educate a 
healthy horse so far in physiology that he will take cold 
without his blanket, whereas the wild animal, left to his 
instincts, sniffs the wind with delight. The epizootic is 
a humanly evolved ailment, which a wild horse might 
never have." This, however, is but the beginning of 
wonders. Mrs. Eddy claimed that she "had caused an 
apple tree to blossom in January," one of her followers 
reported in the Christian Science Journal that her dog 
had been bitten by a rattlesnake and she "was able to 
demonstrate over the belief in four days. The dog is 
now as well as ever," and another follower was able to 
cure a sick horse by saying to it "in an audible voice, 'You 
are God's horse. You cannot overeat, have colic, or be 
foundered.' At noon he was all right."l 

It is not simply individual belief but the social belief 
of mortal mind that produces disease and evil. 

If a dose of poison is swallowed through mistake, and the patient 
dies even though physician and patient are expecting favorable 
results, does human belief, you ask, cause this death? Even so, and 
as directly as if the poison had been intentionally taken. In such 
cases a few persons believe the poison swallowed by the patient to be 
harmless, but the vast majority of mankind, though they know 
nothing of this particular case and this special person^ believe the 
arsenic, the strychnine, or whatever the drug used, to be poisonous, 
for it is set down as a poison by mortal mind. Consequently, the 
result is controlled by the majority of opinions, not by the in- 
finitesimal minority of opinions in the sick-chamber. 

1 Milmine, History, pp. 186, 320, 372. 



120 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

The general social mind is thus turned into a collective 
demon creating disease and sowing the world with evil. 
It appears from this that healing does not depend on 
individual faith, even of Christian Scientists, but on a 
majority vote of the community. It is hard to see how 
Christian Science is ever to succeed if things are to go on 
in this democratic way and even infidels according to this 
faith are allowed to vote. 

8. FOOTSTEPS OF TRUTH 

This chapter opens with the statement that "the best 
sermon ever preached is Truth practiced and demonstrated 
by the destruction of sin, sickness, and death," and our 
feet are in a familiar path. We learn that "to mortal 
sense, sin and suffering are real," in spite of the ceaseless 
iteration that they are "nonexistent," "fiction," "myths," 
"delusions," and "nothing." How what is nonexistent 
and nothing can in any sense be "real" passes understand- 
ing. At times we find a distinction between "mortal 
mind" and "matter," and yet we are also told that 
"matter" is "another name for mortal mind." Although 
we are told as early as in the Preface of the book that 
"the human mind as a healing agent" "is not a factor 
in the principle of Christian Science," yet in this chapter 
we are warned, "You must control evil thoughts in the 
first instance, or they will control you in the second," 
and are assured, "If you believe in and practice wrong 
knowingly, you can at once change your course and do 
right"; we are also frequently bidden to "deny" evil. 

The eternity of man, which is a principle of pantheism, 
comes to the surface in this chapter. "Man in Science is 



SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 121 

neither young nor old. He has neither birth nor death." 
In accordance with this teaching followers are admon- 
ished, "'Never record ages. Chronological data are no 
part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death 
are so many conspiracies against manhood and woman- 
hood." Man is only an '*idea" or a ''reflection" of God 
and has no existence apart from God. 

9. CREATION 

In the opening paragraph we read: "The mythical 
human theories of creation, anciently classified as the 
higher criticism, sprang from cultured scholars in Rome 
and in Greece." This indicates that Mrs. Eddy's idea 
of "the higher criticism" is peculiar, but she frequently 
indulges in these slips of ignorance which her oflScial 
censor overlooked. Again the statement is made that 
"the belief in a bodily soul and a material mind" "is 
shallow pantheism," showing her misconception of pan- 
theism. All the way through her book she thinks that 
pantheism is the doctrine of "mind in matter." 

In this chapter further light or obscurity is thrown on 
Mrs. Eddy's view of the nature of "man" after he has 
been stripped of "mortal mind." The "five corporeal 
senses" are gone so that "man" no longer sees or hears 
or feels either pain or pleasure. "We know no more of 
man as the true divine image and likeness, than we know 
of God." "Man is deathless, spiritual. He is above sin 
or frailty. He does not cross the barriers of time into 
the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with God and 
the universe." 

"The effect of mortal mind on health and happiness is 



1^2 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

seen in" the case of an aged actor "who hobbled every 
day to the theater, and sat aching in his chair till his cue 
was spoken — a signal which made him as oblivious of 
physical infirmity as if he had inhaled chloroform, 
though he was in the full possession of his so-called senses." 
This is a good illustration of the power of the mind over 
the body, which is the stock in trade of Christian Science 
and the principle it has capitalized, however this may be 
denied. 

'^Spirit and its formations are the only realities of 
being," we read. Philosophical idealism makes this same 
assertion, only hy "formations" it means the material 
world. It is diflScult to say what Mrs. Eddy means by 
the word in this connection, only she cannot mean 
"matter," for this is her one universal devil and father 
of all evil. The material universe, which philosophical 
idealism views as the ."formations" or activities of the 
infinite Spirit, is in her system the one great falsity to 
be detested and cast out of all thought and life. This 
distinction marks the deep and impassable gulf between 
Christian Science and philosophical idealism; the one 
is a fundamental misunderstanding and perversion of 
the other. 

10. SCIENCE OF BEING 

This chapter is the longest in the book, extending to 
seventy-three pages, but it is only the same confusion 
confounded. Mrs. Eddy does not use the technical term 
"ontology" in this chapter or anywhere in her writings, 
probably because she had not heard of it, for with her 
love of big swelling words which she did not understand 
it would surely have been a sweet morsel under her tongue. 



^'SCIENCE AND HEALTH*': CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 123 

"Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced 
all rationality, is slbwly yielding to the idea of a meta- 
physical basis." The idea is familiar, after having read 
it hundreds of times, but how from "a material basis,'* 
**may be deduced all rationality" is a new perplexity. 
Is "rationality" also one of the delusive exercises of 
"mortal mind"? If so we may be pardoned for thinking 
that this is one reason why it is so seldom employed in 
this volume. 

All through this book Mrs. Eddy uses familiar words in 
a peculiar sense, constituting the jargon or slang of 
Christian Science, although, of course, she inherited this 
language from Quimby and others of her predecessors. 
"Science" is one of these terms which is used in a sense 
very different from its ordinary and accepted meaning. 
The reader is told, "Deductions from material hypotheses 
are not scientific. They differ from real Science because 
they are not based on divine law. Divine Science reverses 
the false testimony of the senses, and thus tears away the 
foundations of error." There is indeed "enmity," as 
Mrs. Eddy says, between this kind of "Science" and the 
science which all the world knows. 

The usual self-contradictions stare us in the face on 
every page. "Spirit is the only substance and conscious- 
ness recognized by divine Science. The material senses 
oppose this, but there are no material senses, for matter 
has no mind." If there "are no material senses," how 
can they "oppose" anything .f^ That "matter has no 
mind" is announced with all the appearance of a new 
statement, though it has been asserted thousands of times 
in this book and is found in one or another form no less 
than sixteen times on this same page (278) . 



124 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Mrs. Eddy informs us that **in the Saxon and twenty 
other tongues *good' is the term for God," but this ety- 
mology is like her other etymologies, a "fiction" of her 
"mortal mind." Long ago an American humorist said, 
"It is better not to know so many things than to know so 
much that ain't so." 

Once in a while the reader is launched out on the deep of 
natural science and is treated to some wonderful opinions. 
Physicists who are striving day and night to find out 
what electricity is should consult this book, where they 
may read: "Electricity is the sharp surplus of materiality 
which counterfeits the true essence of spirituality or 
truth — the great difference being that electricity is not 
intelligent, while spiritual truth is Mind." This is almost 
as clear as the nature of electricity itself. 

Mrs. Eddy hardly ever quotes or refers to Scripture 
that she does not utterly pervert it to her own purpose, 
putting on it a sense the Scripture writer never dreamed 
of. Thus: "Jacob was alone, wrestling with error — 
struggling with a mortal sense of life, substance, and in- 
telligence as existent in matter with its false pleasures and 
pains — when an angel, a message from Truth and Love, 
appeared to him and smote the sinew, or strength, of his 
error, till he saw its unreality; and Truth, being thereby 
understood, gave him spiritual strength in this Peniel of 
divine Science." This is a fair specimen of what Scripture 
becomes in her hands. 

"Matter is made up of supposititious mortal mind 
force." "Matter" is a wonderfully elusive shadow in 
Mrs. Eddy's teaching. "Mortal mind" is itself "nothing," 
and now we have a "supposititious" "nothing," or 
* 'nothing" raised to the second degree of nothingness, or 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 125 

a zero of zero. "If Soul could sin, Spirit, Soul, would be 
flesh instead of Spirit. It is the belief of the flesh and of 
material sense which sins." But we have been told a 
thousand times that "flesh," "matter," has no "intelli- 
gence" and is "nothing," and here we have "material 
sense" exercising "belief" so that it "sins." 

Of a dead man she says: "The belief of that mortal man 
that he must die occasioned his departure." If the poor 
man had not believed he must die he would not have 
died. Strange that all the devotees of this cult, including 
Mrs. Eddy herself, who profess that belief in death is 
nothing, yet die with such unfailing regularity and total 
unanimity. 

"The true idea of God. . . takes away all sin and the 
delusion that there are other minds, and destroys mortal- 
ity." That there are "other minds" is also a delusion 
and thus one is landed in the pit of pantheism. "The 
divine principle which saves and heals": * 'Principle" is 
always treated as a neuter impersonal noun, and thus 
Mrs. Eddy's very grammar is pantheistic. 

"One should not tarry in the storm if the body is 
freezing, nor should he remain in the devouring flames." 
Why not since the body is nothing.^ "Until one is able to 
prevent bad results, he should avoid their occasion." 
Christian Scientists do avoid freezing and flames along 
with other people, though they do so at the expense of 
their faith in their own doctrine. 

This chapter concludes with thirty-two numbered 
paragraphs which are laid down as the "platform" of 
Christian Science. The first sentence of the first para- 
graph reads, "God is infinite, the only Life, substance. 
Spirit, or Soul, the only intelligence of 4:he universe, in- 



126 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

eluding man." The pantheism of this principle is ap- 
parent, and the same principle runs through all of these 
paragraphs. The substance of the entire platform is ex- 
pressed in the third paragraph: *'The notion that both 
evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, 
which Science annihilates." In the tenth paragraph we 
have a statement of the distinction that Mrs. Eddy 
makes between ** Jesus" as a human person and * 'Christ" 
as "the divine idea of God." "Jesus demonstrated 
Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God — 
the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine 
Principle, Love, and leading into all truth." We have 
already been told that "the Holy Ghost" or "Comforter" 
is "Divine Science." 

In paragraph twenty-five is this statement: "God is 
individual and personal in a scientific sense, but not in 
any anthropomorphic sense." Is this a denial of pan- 
theism.'^ It is not. What is meant by saying that God 
is personal "in a scientific sense"? The word "scientific" 
here means a "Christian scientific sense," and an "an- 
thropomorphic sense" is the only sense in which we can 
understand personality and ascribe it to God. 

11. SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED 

Out of the mass of repetition in this chapter four ob- 
jections to Christian Science are mentioned. The first 
is: "It is objected to Christian Science that it claims God 
as the only absolute Life and Soul, and man to be his 
idea — that is, his image." The objection is that Christian 
Science merges man in a pantheistic God. The answer 
made is: "It should be added that this is claimed to rep- 
resent the normal, healthful, and sinless condition of 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH:" CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 127 

man in divine Science, and that this claim is made be- 
cause the Scriptures say that God has created man in 
his own image and after his hkeness. Is it sacrilegious 
to assume that God's likeness is not found in matter, sin, 
sickness, and death?" The answer confuses "idea" and 
"image." An "idea" of God is a state of his own con- 
sciousness, and if man is "an idea of God" then he is part 
of God and we are landed in pantheism. Thg Scripture 
doctrine that man is created "in the image of God" does 
not make man a part of God but a distinct being and sepa- 
rate personality. When Mrs. Eddy teaches that "man 
is an idea of God" she is teaching pantheism and the 
first objection is sustained. 

The second objection is: "It is sometimes said, in criti- 
cizing Christian Science, that the mind which contradicts 
itself neither knows itself nor what it is saying. It is 
indeed no small matter to know oneself; but in this 
volume of mine there are no contradictory statements— 
at least none which are apparent to those who understand 
its propositions well enough to pass judgment upon them." 
The answer is only a dogmatic denial of the objection 
and does not remove the abounding self-contradictions 
in this volume, and the objection stands. 

The third objection is: "It is sometimes said that 
Christian Science teaches the nothingness of sin, sickness, 
and death, and then teaches how this nothingness is to 
be saved and healed. The nothingness of nothing is 
plain; but we need to understand that error is nothing, 
and that its nothingness is not saved, but must be demon- 
strated in order to prove the somethingness — yea, the 
allness — of Truth. It is self-evident that we are harmoni- 
ous only as we cease to manifest evil or the belief that we 



128 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

suffer for the sins of others. Disbelief in error destroys 
error, and leads to the discernment of Truth. There are 
no vacuums. How then can this demonstration be 
'fraught with falsities painful to behold'.'^" This is a 
fine specimen of Christian Science lingo and logic. "'Error 
is nothing," yet ''disbelief in error [destroys error," 
that is, "disbelief in nothing destroys nothing." The 
absurdity of teaching "the nothingness of sickness," 
and then writing a book of seven hundred pages to explain 
how to heal this nothingness is still "painful to behold," 
and this objection still stands. What Mrs. Eddy really 
means by "the nothingness of sickness" is that sickness 
is a subjective state of mind and not an objective bodily 
reality, but she never succeeds in expressing this idea. 
She digged this pit for herself when she started out with 
her initial blunder that "matter" is a "delusion" to be 
"denied" and cast out of the mind. There is a sense in 
which she believes in the existence of sickness and another 
sense in which she does not, but she never makes the 
distinction clear to her readers or to herself and therefore 
she is constantly involving herself in confusion and con- 
tradiction. 

The fourth objection is: "It is said by one critic, that 
to verify this wonderful philosophy Christian Science 
declared that whatever is mortal or discordant has no 
origin, existence, nor realness. Nothing really has Life 
but God, who is infinite Life; hence all is Life, and death 
has no dominion. This writer infers that if anything 
needs to be doctored, it must be the one God, or Mind. 
Had he stated his syllogism correctly, the conclusion 
would be that there is nothing to be doctored." To see 
Mrs. Eddy giving a lesson to anybody on stating a "syllo- 



'•SCIENCE AND HEALTH'^ CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 129 

gism correctly" is amusing in the extreme. This fourth 
objection is the same pantheistic objection as the first 
one, and notwithstanding the lesson on syllogistic logic 
it still stands. 

12. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTICE 

The principle of Christian Science practice is summed 
up in the statement: "The efficient remedy is to destroy 
the patient's false belief by both silently and audibly 
arguing the true facts in regard to harmonious being — 
representing man as healthy instead of diseased, and 
showing that it is impossible for matter to suffer, to feel 
pain or heat, to be thirsty or sick. Destroy fear, and you 
end fever." This is the principle of faith healing in all 
its forms, however often Mrs. Eddy may claim that her 
system is something different. The difficulty, of course, 
if not the impossibility is to keep on saying you don't 
''feel pain" when you know you do. Fever "ends in a 
belief called death," but "destroy the fear, and you end 
the fever." "When the first symptoms of disease appear, 
dispute the testimony of the material senses with divine 
Science." "Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow 
upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction 
that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no 
more the author of sickness than he is of sin." 

Mrs. Eddy has a pronounced aversion to hygiene and 
all its works. "If half the attention given to hygiene 
were given to the study of Christian Science and to the 
spiritualization of thought, this alone would usher in 
the millennium. Constant bathing and rubbing to alter 
the secretions or to remove unhealthy exhalations from 
the cuticle receive a useful rebuke from Jesus' precept. 



130 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

*Take no thought. . . for the body'. . . He who is ig- 
norant of hygienic law, is more receptive of spiritual power 
and of faith in one God, than is the devotee of supposed 
hygienic law, who comes to teach the so-called ignorant 
one.'' An ignorant immigrant or a savage covered with 
filth and vermin '*is more receptive of spiritual power" 
than one who takes a bath and puts on clean linen at proper 
intervals. Bathing a baby is *'no more natural or neces- 
sary than would be the process of taking a fish out of water 
every day and covering it with dirt to make it thrive 
more vigorously thereafter in its native element"! Here 
is a woman in this enlightened day, after the battle for obe- 
dience to the laws of health as against the outrageous 
and dreadful treatment of the body in the Dark Ages 
has been won at the cost of centuries of struggle with 
ignorance and superstition, who would throw overboard 
anatomy, physiology, hygiene, pathology, materia medica, 
and all the knowledge we have gained that has banished 
pestilence and enabled us to heal and save thousands 
of men and women and children, and plunge the world 
back into the blackest night of savagery. ^'Realize the 
evidence of the senses is not to be accepted in the case 
of sickness, any more than it is in the case of sin." Look 
on your suflFering dear one, mother or wife or darling 
child, however the beloved one may scream and writhe 
in agony, with a stony heart and never move a hand, 
for there is no suffering and only your eyes and ears 
are telling you lies. What monsters of cold-blooded 
insensibility and cruelty can such a doctrine make out 
of human beings! In numerous published and in un- 
numbered unpublished instances Christian Science be- 
lievers and practitioners have refused to accept the evi- 



''SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 131 

dence of their senses and have stood stoHdIy by and let 
die the sick who might have been saved. No wonder 
that when these facts are known people stand aghast 
with horror at such inhumanity and that the civil courts 
interfere to prevent it as a barbarism. 

"Not understanding Christian Science the sick usually 
have little faith in it till they feel its beneficent influence. 
This shows that faith is not the healer in such cases. The 
sick unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against 
it. They admit its reality, whereas they should deny 
it." ''They should deny it": What is this but exercising 
faith in the system. The contention that faith on the 
part of the sick plays no part in their healing is falsified 
on many a page. "Always support their trust in the 
power of Mind to sustain the body." 

Because failure in surgical cases is too patent and public 
and because of the law, they are exempt from Christian 
Science treatment. "Until the advancing age admits the 
eflScacy and supremacy of Mind, it is better for Christian 
Scientists to leave surgery and the adjustment of broken 
bones and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon, while 
the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental recon- 
struction and to the prevention of inflammation. Chris- 
tian Science is always the most skillful surgeon, but 
surgery is the branch of its healing which will be the last 
acknowledged." It is always the most skillful surgeon, 
yet it is better to leave surgery to the surgeon. The logic 
is lame, as the author has not "stated her syllogism 
correctly," but the conclusion is sound. 

From a precious passage in this chapter we learn that 
everyone is crazy except the devotees of Christian Science. 
"There is a universal insanity of so-called health, which 



132 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

mistakes fable for fact throughout the entire round of the 
material senses, but this general craze cannot, in a scientific 
diagnosis, shield the individual case from the special name 
of insanity. Those unfortunate people who are committed 
to insane asylums are only so many distinctly defined in- 
stances of the baneful effects of illusion on mortal minds 
and bodies." If to be sane is to be in the same state of 
mind with the author of this confused book, many of her 
readers would prefer to be crazy. The reader is told 
further that *'if the reader of this book observes a great stir 
throughout his whole system, and certain moral and 
physical symptoms seem aggravated, these indications 
are favorable. Continue to read, and the book will 
become the physician, allaying the tremor which Truth 
often brings to error when destroying it." One does, 
indeed, notice while reading this book that "'certain, moral 
and physical symptoms seem aggravated," but they are 
symptoms of increasing stupor and deep drowsiness mak- 
ing it hard to keep from falling dead asleep. 

13. TEACHING CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Early in this chapter is encountered the fear of animal 
magnetism which runs through it. "Also the teacher 
must thoroughly fit his students to defend themselves 
against sin, and to guard against the attacks of the would- 
be mental assassin, who attempts to kill morally and 
physically." "A thorough perusal of the author's publi- 
cations heals the sick. If patients sometimes seem worse 
while reading this book, the change may arise either 
from the alarm of the physician, or it may mark the crisis 
of the disease. Perseverance in the perusal of the book 



•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 133 

has generally healed such cases/* The book is thus 
treated as if it were charged with magic and had the virtue 
of the fetish of a South Sea islander. There are curious 
affinities between Christian Science and fetishism, the 
worship of relics and even devil worship with its mental 
assassination, and other forms of superstition. The 
author confesses that he did "sometimes seem worse 
while reading this book," but in his case the trouble did 
not "arise either from the alarm of the physician," or 
from "the crisis of the disease," but it arose from the 
tangle of confusion and absurdity in the book itself. 

Here and there one finds good things in this book. For 
example: "If patients fail to experience the healing power 
of Christian Science, and think they can be benefited by 
certain ordinary physical methods of medical treatment, 
then the mind physician should give up such cases, and 
leave invalids free to resort to whatever other systems 
they fancy will afford relief." This is good advice, and 
many of Christian Science patients have acted on it with 
good results. One also reads: "Students are advised by 
the author to be charitable and kind, not only towards 
differing forms of religion and medicine, but to those who 
hold these differing opinions." This also is good advice 
for all people. 

We are told that "it is anything but scientifically 
Christian to think of aiding the divine Principle of healing 
or of trying to sustain the human body until the divine 
Mind is ready to take the case." Does not this mean or 
imply that it is not in accordance with Christian Science 
to be "trying to sustain the human body" with food.^^ 
This is certainly the logic and sometimes is the express 
teaching of this system, yet on turning the leaf one reads: 



134 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

"I do not maintain that anyone can exist in the flesh 
without food and raiment." These self-contradictions 
abound and are inherent in the system. 

Another inconsistency appears in the following: "Usually 
to admit that you are sick, renders your case less curable, 
while to recognize your sin, aids in destroying it." Since 
both sickness and sin are equally unreal and "nothing/* 
why should admitting the one and recognizing the other 
have such opposite effects? 

"Our Master . . . never enjoined obedience to the laws 
of nature." How absurd is such a statement! Time and 
again he fed hungry people and when he raised the little 
daughter of Jairus from the sleep of death "he commanded 
that something should be given her to eat." Mrs. Eddy 
would abolish the whole framework of the universe and 
then she presumes to quote Jesus Christ as sustaining 
her absurdity. 

Obstetrics is a delicate and dangerous point with 
Christian Scientists. "Teacher and student should also 
be familiar with the obstetrics taught by this Science. 
To attend properly the birth of the new child [did anyone 
ever attend the birth of an "old" child.f^], or divine idea, 
you should detach mortal thought from its material con- 
ceptions, that the birth will be natural and safe." This 
kind of "obstetrics" was tried in the early history of 
Christian Science with terrible results, but the law now 
has something to say about such practice. 

On the last page of this chapter one finds a grave relapse 
from Christian Science orthodox belief and practice. "If 
from an injury or from any cause, a Christian Scientist 
were seized with a pain so violent that he could not treat 
himself mentally — and the Scientist had failed to relieve 



^SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 135 

him — the sufferer could call a surgeon, who would give 
him a hypodermic injection, then, when the belief in 
pain was lulled, he could handle his own case mentally. 
Thus it is that we *prove all things; [and] hold fast that 
which is good.'" It seems that this advice plainly admits 
the "somethingness" instead of the "nothingness" of pain, 
especially when it becomes "so violent" that the Christian 
Scientist is helpless before it. And is it not a rather 
humiliating confession of having "failed" and an abject 
groveling before "a surgeon" to run to him for help in such 
an extremity.^ In this chapter Mrs. Eddy says that "it 
should be granted that the author understands what she 
is saying." One frequently doubts, while reading this 
book, that she did, and it is certain that often nobody 
else understands her; and it seems that she must have 
been nodding when she made this admission and gave 
this advice. If Christian Science "is always the most 
skilful surgeon," why ever go back on it and run away from 
it to such a "nothing" as "a hypodermic injection".? Tell 
it not in Gath, publish it not in Boston that Christian 
Science has apostatized from the faith and bowed the knee 
to the god of matter and to the devil of medicine! Does 
not this prove that Christian Science practice becomes 
so impossible that even the high priestess of the cult 
herself must abjure its orthodoxy and resort to the heresy 
of medicine and matter.? And after this authorization 
by Mrs. Eddy herself, are we not now all warranted in 
resorting to "a hypodermic injection" and to "a siu'geon" 
and to all the "ordinary physical methods of medical 
treatment"? May we not now go further and obey all 
"the laws of nature".? May we not now not only eat food 
and wear clothes, but wash our babies ^nd even occasion- 



136 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

ally take a bath and put on clean linen ourselves? Where 
are we going to draw the line? If Mrs. Eddy and her 
followers can resort to the "'hypodermic" and the '*sur- 
geon'' in the dry tree, what may not we do in the green 
tree? The bars are down and we appear to be free to 
roam and revel in the nothingness of matter. 

14. RECAPITULATION 

This chapter recapitulates the few ideas which have 
already been said many hundreds of times in the book by 
saying them over again many times more. It consists 
of questions and answers, and two main threads run 
through them all: pantheism and the "'nothingness" of 
matter and sickness and suflFering and sin. It will not be 
necessary to do more than give a few illustrations. The 
whole chapter is saturated with pantheism. God is 
Principle and "Principle" is always treated as an im- 
personal noun, as of course it is. The fourth question is, 
"What are spirits and souls?" The answer is : "To human 
belief they are personalities constituted of mind and 
matter, life and death, truth and error, good and evil; 
but these contrasting pairs of terms represent contraries, 
as Christian Science reveals, which neither dwell together 
nor assimilate." Of course this very language contradicts 
itself, for how can spirits be "personalities constituted" 
of these "contraries" if they "neither dwell together nor 
assimilate" ? Next one reads : "The term 'souls' or 'spirits' 
is as improper as the term 'gods.' Soul or Spirit signifies 
deity and nothing else. There is no finite soul nor spirit. 
Soul or Spirit means only one mind, and cannot be 
rendered in the plural." This is Mrs. Eddy's constant 
teaching that there is no separate human soul or spirit. 



-SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 137 

but that the only soul is God and man is "an idea'* of 
God. Man is merged in God, and one is landed in the 
pit of pantheism. 

As for the nothingness of matter which runs through 
this recapitulation, we need only adduce the familiar 
statements that ''matter is mortal error," and that '*sin, 
sickness, and death are to be classified as effects of error." 

The last question in this chapter is, "Have Christian 
Scientists any religious creed .f^" The answer starts off, 
"They have not, if by that term is meant doctrinal beliefs. 
The following is a brief exposition of the important points, 
or religious tenets, of Christian Science." Then follow 
six "tenets," every one of which is a "doctrinal belief," 
and all taken together constitute a "religious creed," 
which it has just been denied that Christian Scientists 
have. The first "tenet" is, "As adherents of Truth, we 
take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide 
to eternal life." But it is easily seen how Mrs. Eddy 
perverts the Scripture to her own whimsical and often 
absurd interpretation and purpose, and this fact nullifies 
this first tenet. The other five tenets, which relate to 
the "one supreme and infinite God," "forgiveness of sin," 
"Jesus' atonement," "the crucifixion of Jesus and his 
resurrection," and prayer are all vitiated and under- 
mined by the same absurd system of interpretation. 

15. GENESIS 

With this chapter begins the appendix to "Science and 
Health," which is called **Key to the Scriptures." This 
was not in the early editions of the book, for at first Mrs. 
Eddy had no thought of starting a religion, and the "Key 
to the Scriptures" was an afterthought which was produced 



138 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

and appended to the book in 1884, after she began to 
dream of the day when ''the church bells would ring out 
her birthday." 

If the reader of "Science and Health'* constantly wonders 
at the type and state of the mind that could have pro- 
duced such a mass and mess of obscurity and absurdity, 
literally denying the reality of the world and turning it 
all into an illusion and delusion and also constantly 
denying this denial, he will wonder still more at the 
"Key to the Scriptures," which consists of the irrationality 
and folly of "Science and Health" raised to the second 
if not to the nth power. This amazing performance 
would be truly considered incredible and impossible did 
not the cold type stolidly and persistently stare one in 
the face. 

For one thing, while it proclaims itself a "Key to the 
Scriptures," it consists of comments on only a few verses 
of Scripture, about one hundred in all. These verses 
consist of the first, second, third, and part of the fourth 
chapters of Genesis, and a few verses from the tenth, 
twelfth, and twenty-first chapters of Revelation. In 
addition the Twenty-third Psalm is appended to the chap- 
ter with Mrs. Eddy's interpretation and perversion of 
it after the manner of her rendition of The Lord's Prayer. 
It is out of such material as this that parallel interpre- 
tations to every part of the Scripture are furnished to be 
read along with the Scriptures in the Christian Science 
services; but as parallel lines never meet, so these "par- 
allels" not only do not meet but usually this "Key to the 
Scriptures" has no more connection with the Scriptures 
themselves than has a dog with the Dog Star. 

It will be unnecessary to do more than give a few il- 



•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 139 

lustrations of the manner in which Scripture is unlocked 
by this "Key." The '^exegesis" of the very first verse 
of the Bible consists in denying its plain meaning. Genesis 
1:1 reads: "In the beginning God created the heavens 
and the earth.'* The comment begins: "The infinite 
has no beginning. This word 'beginning* is employed 
to signify 'the only' — that is, the eternal verity and unity 
of God and man, including the universe. The creative 
Principle — Life, Truth, and Love — is God. The universe 
reflects God. There is but one creator and one creation. 
This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas. . . 
and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of God." 
The point of all this is to deny that there is any other 
being than God, and thus pantheism lies at the root of 
this interpretation of the first verse of the Bible, though 
the verse itself and the whole Bible deny pantheism 
from beginning to end. 

The comment now runs along verse by verse, every 
verse being turned into an utterly fanciful and false 
"interpretation." When "God said. Let the waters imder 
the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and 
let the dry land appear," the "interpretation" is that 
"Spirit, Soul, gathers unformed thoughts into their 
proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as 
he opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the 
purpose may appear." 

A marvelous division of the Creation story in Genesis 
is introduced at the sixth verse of the second chapter, 
which reads, "But there went up a mist from the earth, 
and watered the whole face of the ground." We are 
then told: "The Science and truth of the divine creation 
have been presented in the verses already considered. 



140 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

and now the opposite error, a material view of creation, 
is to be set forth. The second chapter of Genesis contains 
a statement of this material view of God and the universe, 
a statement which is the exact opposite of scientific truth 
as before recorded. The history of error or matter, if veri- 
table, would set aside the omnipotence of Spirit; but it 
is the false history in contradistinction to the true." 
Following this principle of interpretation, when it is 
written that "Jehovah God formed man of the dust of 
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life; and man became a living soul,'' Mrs. Eddy exclaims, 
"Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite 
deity, that he should now be called Jehovah? Is this 
addition to his creation real or unreal .^^ Is it truth, or 
is it a lie concerning man and God? It must be a lie, 
for God presently curses the ground." A more false 
and blasphemous "interpretation" of Scripture can no- 
where be found. Let it not be forgotten or forgiven 
that this woman, because it does not agree with her 
theory, dared to write across the account of creation in 
the second chapter of Genesis the impious statement, 
"It must be a lie"! 

Many remarkable things come to light in the closing 
pages of this chapter. Mrs. Eddy here and there through 
her book takes to discussing matters of science and delights 
in using big scientific and philosophical words as though 
she were learned and even an authority in these things, 
and yet she invariably "gives herself away" so that it 
is evident that she does not know what she is talking 
about. A page or two are devoted to "embryology" 
in which we learn some astounding things. We are told 
that "Agassiz was able to see in the egg the earth's at- 



"SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 141 

mosphere, the gathering clouds, the moon and stars, 
while the germinating speck of so-called embryonic life 
seemed a small sim." Students of Darwin will be in- 
terested in learning Mrs. Eddy's notion of Darwinism. 
**Briefly, this is Darwin's theory — that Mind produces 
its opposite, matter, and endues matter with power to 
recreate the universe, including man." Professors of bi- 
ology will please make note of this valuable summary. 

One of the most astounding things in the book is this: 
"It is related that a father plunged his infant babe, only 
a few hours old, into the water for several minutes, and 
repeated this operation daily, until the child could re- 
main under water twenty minutes, moving and playing 
without harm, like a fish. Parents should remember this, 
and learn how to develop their children properly on dry 
land." The application does not seem to be quite ger- 
mane, for obviously the logical lesson that should be drawn 
from the alleged fact is that parents should learn how to 
develop their children properly under water. The real 
point, however, that the illustration demonstrates is the 
monumental credulity of Mrs. Eddy. As she can get 
her credulous followers to believe any absurd thing that 
she tells them, so there is nothing so absurd or impossible 
that is too much for her own boundless gullibility. 

16. THE APOCALYPSE 

In this chapter the same principle of "interpretation" 
is applied to about twenty verses picked out of the book 
of Revelation, Mrs. Eddy has a special fondness for the 
verses (ch. 1^:1-6) in which is mentioned the "woman 
arrayed with the sun," and we have already seen^ how 

1 Page 98. 



142 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

she early began to suggest the identity of herself with this 
woman. **The Revelator saw also the spiritual ideal as a 
woman clothed in light. . . The woman in the Apoc- 
alypse symbolizes generic man, the spiritual idea of 
God; she illustrates the coincidence of God and man as 
the divine Principle and divine idea." "As Elias pre- 
sented the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus 
afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this 
figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God's 
motherhood." The strongly suggested analogy is that 
as Jesus manifested the fatherhood of God, so the Reve- 
lator completed the figure with woman, who was Mrs. 
Eddy herself, "typifying the spiritual idea of God's 
motherhood." 

It is unnecessary to follow further the incredible vagaries 
of this "Key" to the Apocalypse. The chapter concludes 
with the statement: "The writer's present feeble sense of 
Christian Science closes with John's Revelation as re- 
corded by the great apostle, for his vision is the acme of 
this Science as the Bible reveals it." Again "this Science" 
and "the Bible" are classed together as divine revelations, 
only, as we have learned, the "Science" is a later and 
fuller revelation than the Bible. 

17. GLOSSARY 

This chapter purports to give "the metaphysical in- 
terpretation of Bible terms, giving their spiritual sense, 
which is also their original meaning." One hundred and 
twenty-six words are thus defined, the "metaphysical 
interpretation" consisting of a string of supposedly 
synonomous words or phrases, in some instances extending 
to a full page. A few choice specimens have already been 



•'SCIENCE AND HEALTH:" CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 143 

culled from its pages, ^ and only a few more need be adduced. 
"Adam" is in a very bad way with Mrs. Eddy, for she 
devotes a page to him in which she calls him all manner 
of evil names. If he had been living at the time he would 
have had a good case against her for libel, and any jury 
would have awarded him heavy damages. The long 
catalogue starts, ''Error; a falsity; the belief in 'original 
sin,' sickness, and death; evil; the opposite of good," 
and so on to the end of the page. In addition to all this 
she made this astonishing discovery: "Divide the name 
Adam into two syllables, and it reads, 'A dam,* or obstruc- 
tion." The point of this remarkable etymology, which 
Webster and all other lexicographers have strangely 
overlooked, is that Adam was an obstruction to our 
growth in spirituality. We wish to enter a protest against 
this personal vilification of Adam and even dare to utter 
a word in his defense. He has long had to bear a heavy 
enough burden of odium in connection with the human 
race without having this terrible catalogue of abusive 
epithets unloaded on him. Eve has only six lines devoted 
to her "metaphysical interpretation" as compared with 
Adam's full page, yet she fares little better, for she is 
"mortality; error; the belief that the human race originated 
materially instead of spiritually — that man started first 
from dust, second from a rib, and third from an egg." 
Evidently Eve deserves our pity and charity. Mrs. 
Eddy seems to have some spite against Jacob and his 
sons, for Jacob himself is "a corporeal mortal embracing 
duplicity, repentance, sensualism," while Benjamin is "a 
physical belief as to life, a false belief," Issachar is "a 
corporeal belief, envy; hatred; self-will; lust," and poor 
1 Pp. 90, 91. 



144 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Dan is that dreadful demon, *'Animal magnetism." One 
often wonders what might be the "spiritual sense" of the 
river Gihon, but now comes the information that it is 
^'the rights of woman acknowledged morally, civilly, and 
socially." It will be admitted that the genius that gave 
the river this name was gifted with long foresight and was 
a remarkable prophet. "Matter," of course, is "another 
name for mortal mind; illusion," and so on, ending with 
"that which mortal mind sees, feels, hears, tastes, and 
smells only in belief." "Mortal Mind" is a familiar 
friend, "Nothing claiming to be something, error creating 
other errors," and many other grave offenses, ending in 
"sin; sickness; death." "Red Dragon" appropriately 
means "animal magnetism." "Divine Science" is found 
symbolized under many names, including "Dove," "Gad," 
*'Elias," ^'New Jerusalem," and the rivers "Euphrates" 
and ^^Hiddekel"! 

All these "metaphysical interpretations" are seriously 
given as the "original meaning" of these terms. This 
egregious "Glossary" may be viewed as a literary curiosity 
and monstrosity, or as a pitiful display of ignorant conceit, 
or as a painful exhibition of sacrilegious trifling with 
Scripture, or as a symptom of incipient egotistic insanity, 
a kind of lexical madhouse; but it may be summed up by 
saying that it is a conglomeration of arrant nonsense and 
fatuous folly without a rival, so far as is known, in the 
English or any other language.^ 

1 We would find the nearest approach to this performance in the 
"allegorizing" of some of the ancient Hebrew rabbis and the medieval 
Cabalists. **The Cabalists were searching out the sacred inner 
meaning of the Bible; they proceeded slowly, starting with *in the 
beginning/ and stopping at every word, every letter, and found in 
every word and every letter a mine of secrets." Viktor Rydberg, 
The Magic of the Middle Ages, p. 144, 



**SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 145 

18. FRUITAGE 

The final chapter of the book consists of eighty-four 
letters, republished from The Christian Science Journal 
and Christian Science Sentinel, giving the experiences *'of 
people who have been reformed and healed through the 
perusal or study of this book." The consideration of 
such cures will be taken up in a later chapter. 

However, for the present, the author wishes to point 
out two strange features that are obvious to the most 
casual non-Scientist reader of these letters; two self- 
contradictions that are written all over them and woven 
into every line of them. 

The first is this: Since we have been told countless times 
all the way through this book that disease is nothing and 
nonexistent because *'Man is incapable of sickness," how 
in the world does there come to be so much of it.f^ And 
why all this pretense and pother of curing it.f^ Since 
disease is only the imagination of "mortal mind," which 
is itself "nothing," it seems there is an awful fuss made 
over getting rid of something that does not really exist, 
or is only the fiction of a fiction. Having "denied" the 
body and shed it as only a bad dream, why bother so 
much about it.f^ Since there really is no matter, how can 
there be anything the matter with it.^ This puzzle con- 
stantly stares us in the face as we read these letters 
that are saturated and dripping with diseases that these 
persons were "incapable" of having. 

And the second strange thing is stranger still and it is 
this: The readers of this book and the writers of these 
letters have been taught that the senses are utterly false 
and not to be believed on any subject. They have been 
assured that "the testimony of the corporeal senses cannot 



146 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

inform us what is real and what is delusive/* that "health 
is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the 
material senses bear reliable testimony on the subject of 
health/' that "'corporeal sense defrauds and lies/* that 
"the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted in the 
case of sickness/' and that "the so-called senses receive no 
intimation of the earth's motions or of the science of 
astronomy/' If the senses cannot tell any truth about 
such big and plain things as astronomy and the motions 
of the heavenly bodies how much less can they be trusted 
to tell anything about anatomy and the motions of our 
organs? Yet the writers of these letters all appeal to 
their senses, first, to show what diseases they did have, 
and, second, to prove that they don't have them now and 
never did have them. How did they know that they 
had these broken arms and fibroid tumors and cataracts 
in their eyes? They say that they saw these things, but 
such testimony "is not to be accepted in the case of 
sickness" and is branded as fraudulent and "lies" in the 
book. Having thrown the senses out of court as prevari- 
cators, how can they now bring them back in again to 
prove both their diseases and their cures? 

The ways of the Christian Science mind are past 
finding out. Yet the writers of these letters never seem 
to be aware of these self-contradictions and absurdities. 
It is only a step or a slip from idealism or spiritualism 
into materialism, and these two contradictions illustrate 
the fact that Mrs. Eddy and her followers, with all their 
affirmation of "Mind" as the only reality and in spite of 
all their denial of and aversion to "matter," are yet 
deeply mired in materialism, and in all their teaching and 
practice they are constantly struggling with this "too. 



**SCIENCE AND HEALTH": CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 147 

too solid flesh," which will not melt and vanish at their 
bidding. 

Some additional opinions of this book by other students 
of it are here appended in conclusion to this chapter. 
The author has already referred to and quoted from *'The 
Interpretation of Life/* by Gerhardt Mars, who strongly 
supports Mrs. Eddy's claims, and yet he writes as follows: 

The first reading of her chief work, **Science and Health with Key 
to the Scriptures," leaves the impression, in spite of much that is 
strikingly beautiful and true, that there is a prevailing tone of in- 
coherence, contradiction, illogicality, and arbitrary, dictatorial 
assertion, with no regard for evident fact either in the realm of 
objective nature or history. 

Robert Hugh Benson, a Roman Catholic dignitary, 
wrote as follows: 

It is impossible to describe the confusion of mind that falls upon 
the student of "Science and Health". . . The quasiphilosophical 
phraseology of the book, the abuse of terms, the employment of 
ambiguous words at crucial points, the character of the exegesis, 
the broken-backed paradoxes, the astonishing language, the egotism 
— all these things and many more end by producing in the mind a 
symptom resembling that which neuritis produces in the body, 
namely a sense that an agonizing abnormality is somewhere about, 
whether in the writings or in the reader is uncertain.^ 

Stephen Paget, M. D., in his book '*The Faith and 
Works of Christian Science," quotes the opinions of 
several writers of which a brief extract follows: 

Dr. Polk, Dean of the Medical Department, Cornell University: 
Take **Science and Health," separate yourself from disturbing sur- 
roundings, open its pages with a mind even somewhat prejudiced, 
set yourself seriously to the task of comprehending its various 
iterations and reiterations, its statements backward, its statements 
forward, its statements sidewise, and every other wise, of its initial 

1 The Dublin Review, July, 1908, reprinted in his -BooA; of Essays, 



148 THiE TRUTH A&OUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

proposition, throughout its 569 pages, and I know there are many of 
you who, long before you had fathomed its depths, would find 
yourself in a state of mental vacuity fit for the action of "suggestion." 

Dean Hart, of the University of Denver: I have found that 
"Science and Health" is the best mode of inducing the mesmeric 
sleep I have ever experienced. The repetition of senseless sentences, 
with constantly changing signification of words, whose new meanings 
have to be gleaned from the context, produces a strange maze which 
dazes the mind and produces a mesmeric condition. 

Rev. P. C. Woolcott: What really happens when you attack these 
tiresome monotonous pages, is this: you struggle at first to master 
the difficulties and get at the meaning. If you become convinced 
that it is not worth the effort, you dismiss the matter from your 
mind, and that is the end of it. But if you force yourself to the 
task, and pore over the pages, you soon fall into a condition of 
mental dizziness or vertigo. The reasoning faculties are benumbed, 
your critical judgment is lulled to sleep, and suggestion dominates 
the intellect. 



M. Carta Sturge, *'after ten years' study of the book," 
says: 

I have met with extraordinary diflBculty to get a connected idea of 
the contents of "Science and Health," owing to one of its most 
striking characteristics, namely, its entire want of sequence, both in 
thought and in expression. It abounds in contradictions, not only 
to be found on the same page, the same paragraph, the same sentence, 
but often between two words used consecutively. We have never 
read a book which attempted to be a scientifically sound system 
which is so full of glaring contradictions, and in which the conclusions 
were so absolutely disconnected from the premises. Unfortunately 
their rendering of truth has been given with such an entire want of 
sense and logic that when read in the light of ordinary intelligence 
it reads as entire nonsense, and a beautiful ideal and a great truth 
has been rendered ridiculous, whilst the minds of Christians in 
general have been shocked. ^ 



Such a consensus of opinions from competent judges, 
which might be indefinitely extended, is strong evidence 
as to the unreadableness and irrationality of this queer 
book. 

^ The Truth and Error of Christian Science, pp. viii, ix. 



CHAPTER VII 

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 

On the basis of the contents of "Science and Health'* 
as it has been summarized and as supplemented by the 
other writings of the same author, we may now state 
and examine the main points of Christian Science teaching. 

1. ITS FUNDAMENTAL DENIALS 

Christian Science is based, first on the denial of matter, 
sickness, suffering, pleasure, sin, and death. These 
denials expressed in the most unequivocal and positive 
terms are found on almost every page of Mrs. Eddy's 
writings and are repeated wearisomely an incredible 
number of times. The author has estimated, on the basis 
of the average number of reiterations on each page, that in 
one or another form this denial occurs in ''Science and 
Health" at least three thousand times; and in all her 
writings it may be asserted not less than ten thousand 
times. One writer, giving his impression of this endless 
repetition, says that Mrs. Eddy has made this denial 
''for the millionth time." It is her obsession and her 
demon and it never leaves her for one moment. 

(1) Denial of Matter. "Matter" in Christian Science 
is another name for "mortal mind" and is declared to 
be a "myth," a "delusion," and "nothiag." This is 
not the doctrine of philosophical idealism, as held by 
Berkeley, Lotze, Paulsen, Bowne, Royce, and many other 

149 



150 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

thinkers from Plato down to our day. Mrs. Eddy her- 
self says: * 'Those who formerly sneered at it as foolish 
and eccentric now declare Bishop Berkeley, David Hume, 
Ralph Waldo Emerson, and certain German Philosophers, 
or some unlearned mesmerist, to have been the real 
originators of Mind Healing." She, however, disclaims 
this origin and she is right in this. She proceeds: '*Emer- 
son's ethics are models of their kind; but even that good 
man and genial philosopher partially lost his mental 
faculties before his death, showing that he did not under- 
stand the Science of Mind Healing as elaborated in my 
'Science and Health'; nor did he pretend to do so." It 
is certainly amusing to see Mrs. Eddy thus patronize 
Emerson, and she is entirely correct when she says that 
he did not *'pretend" to understand her "Science." 

Philosophical idealism holds to the objective reality of 
matter as a divine idea and mode of activity, but it does 
not at all declare it is "nonexistent" and "nothing." 
Berkeley believed in the existence of the objective world 
as much as anybody, only he conceived it as being mental 
or spiritual in nature and having its source and seat in 
the divine Mind. "I have never doubted," he says, 
"that fire is hot and that ice is cold." Of him it has been 
said: "No man ever delighted less to expatiate in the 
regions of the abstract, the impalpable, the unknown. 
His heart and soul clung with inseparable tenacity to 
the concrete realities of the universe."^ But Christian 
Science absolutely denies the existence of the objective 
world except as a baseless delusion of "mortal mind,'* 
which is itself another equally baseless delusion. It 

1 Professor James F. Ferrier, quoted in the article on Berkeley in 
Hastings* Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 151 

abolishes the whole framework of nature and boldly de- 
clares that*'there are no vertebrata, moUusca, or radiata/' 
This contradicts the plain testimony of the senses and 
the universal experience of mankind, falsifies the mental 
faculties, and annihilates the material universe at a blow 
and with a breath. How can Christian Scientists keep 
up this denial of the objective world and endlessly repeat 
this monstrous untruth? It shakes confidence in their 
sincerity and sanity. 

Mrs. Eddy evidently had in her mind a confused notion 
of the psychological and philosophical distinction be- 
tween subjective experience and objective reality, and 
she probably meant to make matter a purely subjective 
idea in the mind and deny it any extramental reality. 
If she had clearly grasped this distinction and consist- 
ently stuck to it she could have carried her scheme 
through. 1 But unfortunately for her system she upset 
it and dug a miry pit for herself by making this idea in 
the mind an "'illusion" and "delusion" of "'mortal mind" 
and then making "'mortal mind" itself a "delusion," 
so that she left no reality for matter either out of the mind 
or in it but reduced it to "nothingness," and thus she 
made her whole system a delusion of a delusion and threw 
it into confusion worse confounded. It was at this point 
that she misunderstood and perverted philosophical 
idealism, and it was this initial blunder that wrecked 
her whole scheme and involved her in endless contra- 
dictions. 

(2) Denial of Sickness. There is no such thing as 
rheumatism, hernia, tumor, insanity, epilepsy, cataract, 

1 On this point see Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney's thoughtful little 
book. The Integrity of Christian Science, pp. 13-16. 



152 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

heart disease, cancer, tuberculosis, Bright's disease, 
neurasthenia, diseased eyes, stomach trouble, dyspepsia, 
deafness, diseased lungs, rupture, liver complaint, dropsy, 
kidney disease, diseased bowels, eczema, catarrh, spinal 
disease, asthma, yet these are the names of diseases 
found in the headings of the letters on "Fruitage'* in 
''Science and Health," from which their writers claim to 
have been cured. And yet these diseases are also de- 
clared to be "delusions'* and "nothing.'' To say in one 
breath that they had these "delusions" and base the 
proof of this fact on the evidence of their senses and then 
in the next breath affirm, "nor can the material senses 
bear reliable testimony on the subject of health," gives 
no logical jolt or sense of contradiction to Christian 
Scientists. 

(3) Denial of Pain and Pleasure. Pain is constantly de- 
clared to be a "delusion" of "mortal mind" and "nothing," 
and pleasure is consigned to the same "nothingness." It 
is true that at times admission is made that pain and 
pleasure exist as states of "mortal mind," but none the 
less is the reality of these states denied, and those who 
experience them are urged to "deny" them and refuse to 
believe that they have them. The patient is told that 
he has no pain, but only thinks that he has. The little 
child, having injured itself, is told that it does not hurt, 
and thus a falsehood is almost literally crammed down 
its throat or forced into its consciousness. That we 
should be told and asked to believe that we have no pain 
when agony may be sweeping through the soul like flames 
of fire, or that we are experiencing no pleasure when we 
are eating delicious food or quenching intense thirst, or 
are thrilled with the beauty of a poem or a symphony or 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 153 

a sunset, or with the joy of love, is to try get us to con- 
tradict our immediate consciousness and surest knowledge 
and believe a lie, and is incredible except when viewed as 
the delusion of an insane mind or wild fanatic. 

(4) Denial of Sin. Deeper still in falsity is the Christian 
Science denial of sin. This also is declared to be mere 
"myth" and "nothing." It is said that "man is incapable 
of sin," for he is an "idea" or "reflection" of God and is 
as sinless and impeccable as God himself. "To hold 
yourself superior to sin," says this false prophetess, "is 
true wisdom." This contradicts the individual conscience 
of every normal person and the universal consciousness 
and conscience of mankind. That "all have sinned, and 
fall short of the glory of God" is not only the express 
teaching of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, but it 
is also written just as plainly in all the histories and 
stamped upon all the races and classes and upon all the 
human conduct and character of the world. "If we say 
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth 
is not in us," "and we make" God "a liar." That any 
man or woman, however blinded by bigotry or partisan 
purpose, should stand up before the sorry spectacle of 
this world, with all its vice and crime and wickedness and 
woe, and declare that there is no sin and that man cannot 
sin, passes belief; and yet Christian Scientists are doing 
this incredible thing every time they read their textbook 
and express confidence in the founder of their faith. 

(5) Denial of Death. The Christian Science denial of 
death may strike us as the extremest absurdity of all 
the irrationalities of this cult, but Mrs. Eddy asserts it 
calmly and boldly without once losing her composure or 
moving a muscle of her face. If she had any sense of 



154 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

humor we might think she was not meaning to be taken 
too seriously, but she is always dead in earnest; and her 
followers do not balk or blink at anything she says. It 
is true that all her husbands and relatives and students 
died in due order and she herself followed them in com- 
mitting this act of mortal belief and delusion, but this 
does not affect her followers. They still unflinchingly 
say that death is a "mortal belief'^ and that if we were 
only not so foolish as to believe it and were to "deny" it 
resolutely, there would be no great enemy to fear and no 
death to die. But as long as Christian Scientists die so 
regularly and so unanimously we may be permitted to 
**deny" their theory. ^ 

(6) Moral Tendencies of These Denials. Nothing 
enters more deeply into life than one's philosophy. How- 
ever subtle and remote from practical affairs it may 
seem, yet if it be planted as a real belief in the mind and 
heart it will inevitably work its logical tendencies out into 
life. "The most practical and important thing about a 
man,** says Mr. G. K. Chesterton, "is still his view of the 
imi verse. . . We think the question is not whether the 
theory of the cosmos affects matters, but whether, in the 
long run, anything else affects them." 

What is the practical tendency of these denials of 
Christian Science.?^ They first undermine the trust- 

1 Some Christian Scientists actually hold that Mrs. Eddy did not 
die. After her death the authorities of The Mother Church 
published a selection of editorials from various newspapers, com- 
menting on her death. Whereupon Mrs. Augusta E. Stetson, of 
New York, wrote an indignant letter in which she said that such 
admissions were contradictory and disloyal to the Christian Science 
teachings and declared in italics, "Mary Baker Eddy never died.'* 
See her book Give God the Glory, in which she repeatedly makes this 
assertion. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 155 

worthiness of the human mind as an organ of knowledge. 
They turn the senses, pains, and pleasures into false 
reports of a false world and thereby overthrow the most 
familiar and necessary beliefs and turn the whole material 
universe into a monstrous lie. Nothing in the objective 
world is true as we see and experience it, and our very 
souls are not persons but only reflected ideas of a principle 
which is an impersonal pantheistic mind. 

What effect will trying to believe this have on one's 
sense of truth and life.^^ The logical result of it will be to 
pervert one's intellectual conscience. When Christian 
Scientists teach little children to say that they are not 
hurt when their own consciousness asserts they are 
suffering pain, what effect do they think such teaching 
will have on children's sense of truth .f^ And how can 
Christian Scientists keep on stultifying their senses and 
their most vivid experience of reality in suffering and sin, 
and not blunt their conscience and blur the deepest and 
sharpest distinctions between truth and error? There is 
such a thing as people so saturating their souls with deceit 
and subverting their very sense of truth that **God sendeth 
them a working of error, that they should believe a lie" 
(II Thess. 2:11). Such a fundamental and pervasive 
falsity as lies at the root of Christian Science must pervert 
all the intellectual processes of the mind. 

But the denial of matter and of sin cuts much deeper 
into the moral tissues of life. It is antinomian in principle 
and in fruit. This denial is a very ancient doctrine 
and its consequences are well known in history. Among 
the Gnostic sects of the early Christian centuries were the 
Manichseans who held that the spiritual being of man was 
unaffected by the action of matter, and their morals 



156 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

were loose, and there were also the Nicolaitans (Rev. 
2:6) who were antinomian libertines. If the flesh is 
an illusion and sin is nothing the dividing line between 
virtue and vice grows thin to the vanishing point, and it 
is then easy, to slip from the one into the other. If one 
really holds to the theory of the nonreality of sin it will 
not be difficult for his conscience to confuse the flesh and 
the spirit and to lose all sense of difference between them; 
and, indeed, there is no difference if "Good is all, and all 
is good.'* This doctrine has been a menace to the world 
both outside and inside the Church in all ages. Let a 
man once be obsessed with the belief that sin has no reality 
and is a myth, and there is no sin, however sensual and 
shocking, that he may not commit without any compunc- 
tion of conscience or sense of guilt, for he can say, with 
Browning's "Johannes Agricola in Meditation," 

I have God's warrant, could I blend 

All hideous sins, as in a cup. 

To drink the mingled venoms up; 
Secure my nature will convert 

The draught to blossoming gladness fast. 

As to the followers of this cult, we doubt not that they 
are generally people above reproach. But we are dealing 
with the logical tendency of their faith, and their denial 
of the reality of matter and of sin has an ancient history 
and its record is not good. It has been prolific of evil 
and it is still a menace to right thinking and good living. 

2. THE PANTHEISM OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Mrs. Eddy repeatedly denies and her followers repeat 
the denial that her system is pantheistic. But her denials 
cannot save her from her self-contradictions on this as 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 157 

on other points. She is laboring under a misunderstand- 
ing of what pantheispi is, owing to her ignorance of the 
correct meaning of many terms which she uses and to 
her lack of learning in general. She thinks that pantheism 
is the theory that matter is intelligent, "mind in matter,'* 
as she says countless times. But of course this is not 
pantheism, which is the doctrine of one infinite, eternal, 
impersonal substance which is the totality of being. The 
pantheistic God, therefore, has no consciousness and will 
in itself, but only such consciousness as appears in men, 
who are parts of the infinite substance or Absolute, 
related to it as waves and spray and foam are related to 
the sea, eternally thrown up out of it and falling back 
into it. This one substance may be material or spiritual 
in nature, and Mrs. Eddy's identification of pantheism 
with "mind in matter" or with "corporeality" is an error. 
Now Mrs. Eddy's teaching .is pantheistic in the true 
sense of the term in spite of her denial. The evidence 
of this runs through the entire web and woof of her writ- 
ings. "God is supreme: is Mind; is Principle, not person: 
includes all and is reflected by all that is real and eternal; 
is Spirit, and Spirit is infinite, is the only substance; is 
the only life. Man was and is the idea of God; therefore 
mind never can be in man." This language from one 
of the earlier editions of "Science and Health" is as pure 
pantheism as could be expressed in words. Her favorite 
name for God is "Principle," which is a neuter noim 
and which she always treats as an impersonal term, never 
using the personal pronoun "who" but always the imper- 
sonal pronoun "which" in relation to it. Her doctrine 
of prayer is pantheistic, for she denies that prayer has 
any efiFect on God but has only subjective influence on 



158 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

US. "To address Deity as a Person impedes spiritual 
progress and hides Truth.'* Her doctrine of the nature 
of man is pantheistic, for she repeatedly declares that 
man is an **idea'* and ^'reflection'* of God and denies 
that he has any existence separate and apart from God. 
Her doctrine of sin is pantheistic, for she denies its reality. 
Her fundamental principle that "God is all in all, and all in 
all is God," this being her famous "reversible" statement 
that reads as well backward as forward, is pantheism; in 
fact this statement is a classical philosophical definition 
of pantheism. It merges God and the world into one 
being, which is the sum total of the universe in which 
man has no enduring personality and is only a drop in 
the infinite ocean and has no more freedom and respon- 
sibility than a wave or the wind. Occidental pantheism, 
whether it regards the one Substance of the totality of 
being as materialistic or spiritualistic, does not deny the 
reality of the objective world, whereas Oriental pantheism 
resolves the objective world into deceitful appearance or 
unreal illusion. It is obvious that Mrs. Eddy's pantheism, 
with its denial of the reality of matter as being a mere 
illusion, belongs to the Oriental type of pantheism, es- 
pecially to that of India. 

We have not only Mrs. Eddy's written teaching on 
this point, but also the testimony of her students as to 
her private and more explicit instruction. In the suit that 
she brought against Charles Stanley, a student whom 
she had dismissed from her class, for unpaid tuition, 
Richard Kennedy testified: 

I had nothing to do with the instructions — she told me that she 
had expelled Mr. Stanley from the class — of his incompetency to 
understand her science — that it was impossible to convince him of 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 159 

the folly of his times — that his faith in a personal God and prayer 
was such that she could not overcome it — She used the word "Baptist" 
in connection with him because he was a Baptist — but it was the 
same with all the other creeds. So long as they believed in a 
personal God and the response to prayer, they could not progress in 
the scientific religion — I performed the manipulation of Mr. Stanley 
as follows: Mrs. Eddy requested me to rub Mr. Stanley's head and 
to lay special stress upon the idea that there was no personal God, 
while I was rubbing him. I never entirely gave up my belief in a 
personal God, though my belief was pretty well shaken up.i 



The moral tendency of pantheism is to dull conscience 
and relax all sense of obligation and virtue, for it denies 
sin and annuls freedom and responsibility and obliterates 
all distinction between good and evil as being equally 
determined and necessary; and whenever pantheism 
saturates the thought and life of a people, as in India, 
it leads to unspeakable moral degradation. 

3. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND MARRIAGE 

We have already seen that in "'Science and Health** 
Mrs. Eddy sets forth her peculiar views on marriage in 
unmistakable terms. Marriage is merely a temporary 
arrangement to be regarded only as long as we believe in 
"'mortal mind." ''The human mind will at length de- 
mand a higher aflFection,'* and "there will ensue a fer- 
mentation over this as over many other reforms." Her 
various statements are sugar-coated with asseverations 
that "in Christian Science the gospel of marriage is not 
without the law, and the solemn vow of fidelity," but 
these cannot sweeten her express teachings which contain 
a deadly poison to the marriage problem. The author 
supplements the dangerous views already quoted with. 

1 Milmine, History y p. 145. 



160 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

even more explicit teaching as found in her "Miscellaneous 
Writings" as follows: 

Until time matures human growth, marriage and progeny will 
continue unprohibited in Christian Science. We look to future 
generations for ability to comply with absolute Science, when 
marriage shall be found to be man*s oneness with God — the unity of 
eternal Love. At present, more spiritual conception and education 
of children will serve to illustrate the superiority of spiritual power 
over sensuous, and usher in the dawn of God's creation, wherein 
they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels. 
To abolish marriage at this period, and maintain morality and 
generation, would put ingenuity to ludicrous shifts; yet this is 
possible in Science, although it is to-day problematic. The time 
Cometh, and now is, for spiritual and eternal existence to be recog- 
nized and understood in Science. All is Mind. Human procreation, 
birth, life, and death are subjective states of the human erring 
mind; they are the phenomena of mortality, nothingness, that 
illustrate mortal mind and body as one, and neither real and 
eternal. 1 

Let it not be overlooked that while it is admitted that 
**to abolish marriage at this period'' would result in 
"ludicrous shifts," nevertheless it is declared without 
qualification that "yet this is possible in Science/' and 
it is further declared that "the time cometh, and now 
is" when this possibility should be "recognized and 
understood in Science." What is this but teaching 
that marriage might and ought to be "abolished" now 
by those that recognize and understand it in Science? 

Mrs. Eddy holds that "generation rests on no sexual 
basis," and says: "The propagation of their species by 
butterfly, bee, and moth, without the customary presence 
of male companions, is a discovery corroborative of the 
Science of Mind, because it shows that the origin and 
continuance of these insects rests on Principle apart from 

1 Miscellaneous Writings, p. 286. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 161 

material conditions." Alleging that in the birth of Jesus 
"the Science of being overshadowed the sense of the 
Virgin mother, with a full recognition that Spirit is the 
basis of being," she calls "His birth what everyone's 
should be." She says that "I never knew more than one 
individual who believed in agamogenesis; she was un- 
married, a lovely character, was suffering from incipent 
insanity, and a Christian Scientist cured her." "It is 
well authenticated, however, that one of Mrs. Eddy's 
disciples some years back took Mrs. Eddy's words at 
face value and calmly announced to a wonder-struck 
world the immaculate conception and birth of a son."l 

The extremest and most offensive statement on the 
subject of marriage was made by Mrs. Eddy at the dedi- 
cation of her Boston church. Mr. Peabody gives the 
following account of it: 

The most impressive and conspicuous incident in Christian 
Science history was the dedication in June, 1906, of the "Mother 
Church" in Boston, a beautiful building that cost upwards of two 
million dollars. In order to get her views regarding marriage before 
the faithful, in the most impressive manner, Mrs. Eddy incorporated 
them in her message which was read at the church dedication cere- 
monies. She took the bit in her teeth, as it were, and notwith- 
standing efforts to dissuade her or induce her to modify her state- 
ment, insisted upon getting her views before her following in their 
most extreme and obnoxious form, characterizing marriage as 
"synonomous with legalized lust." It has been denied by Mrs. 
Eddy's press agents that she gave utterance to this opinion of 
marriage; but it will be found in her dedication message as published 
in the Christian Science Sentinel for June, 1906, and the Christian 
Science Journal for July, 1906.2 

That any respectable man or woman should publicly 
stigmatize the holy relation of marriage as "synonomous 

1 Marsten, The Mash of Christian Science, p. 133. 

2 Masquerade^ p. 165. * 



162 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

with legalized lust'' is an oflFense against one of the most 
sacred and vital institutions of the world. 

In accordance with her teaching that "^generation rests 
on no sexual basis," Mrs. Eddy declares that there is no 
hereditary transmission of traits from parents to children. 
In the chapter on ''Questions and Answers" in her "'Mis- 
cellaneous Writings" she asks, "'Does Christian Science 
set aside the law of transmission, parental desires, and 
good or bad influences on the unborn child.^^" and answers: 

Whatever is real is right and eternal; hence the immutable and 
just law of Science, that God is good only, and can transmit to man 
and the universe nothing evil, or unlike himself. For the innocent 
babe to be born a lifelong sufferer because of his parents' mistakes 
or sins, were sore injustice. Science sets aside man as a creator, 
and unfolds the eternal harmonies of the only living and true 
origin, God. According to the beliefs of the flesh, both good and 
bad traits of the parents are transmitted to their helpless offspring, 
and God is supposed to impart to man this fatal power. It is 
cause for rejoicing that this belief is as false as it is remorseless. ^ 

Yet in direct contradiction with this teaching she 
affirms, in her textbook, parental propensities are inherited: 

The offspring of heavenly minded parents must inherit more 
intellect, better balanced minds, and sounder constitutions. If 
some fortuitous circumstance places spiritual children in the arms 
of gross parents, these beautiful children early droop and die, like 
tropical flowers born amid Alpine snows. If perchance they live to 
become parents, in their turn they may reproduce in their own 
helpless little ones the grosser traits of their ancestors. What hope 
of happiness, what noble ambition can inspire the child who inherits 
propensities that must either be overcome or reduce him to a loath- 
some wreck. 

This is only one among many positive self-contradictions 
that are found in these writings. 

1 Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 71, 72. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 163 

This teaching on the subject of marriage is not without 
its practical effect among Christian Scientists. When 
Mrs. Eddy asks, **Is marriage nearer right than ceKbacy ?" 
and answers, "Human knowledge inculcates that it is, 
while Science indicates that it is not,*' this cannot fail 
to have some influence upon her devotees, and there 
are painful facts bearing on this point. To quote from 
Mr. Peabody: 

Mrs. Eddy, having been married three or four times, now em- 
phatically disapproves of marriage, and a marriage between Christian 
Scientists is decidedly objectionable. There has never been a 
marriage in the Christian Science church. There is no Christian 
Science ceremony and no Christian Science oflScial authorized to 
perform a marriage. The marriage relation, as such, is regarded as 
sensuous and impure, and the marriage of an official of the church 
in any part of the country would mean instant loss of power and 
influence together with his office and its emoluments. . . With 
this objection to marriage goes also the objection to children, so 
that the birth of children in Christian Science families is of rare 
occurrence and is regarded as evidence of unspiritual living and is 
decidedly discrediting. "Sensual and mortal beliefs, material 
suppositions of life," Mrs. Eddy calls children. The effects of this 
teaching are shown in the difference between Christian Science Sun- 
day schools and Christian Sunday schools. The membership of the 
Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian Sunday school is about the 
same as their church membership; while in Christian Science Sunday 
schools there is but one child for every five members. ^ 

Dr. Powell also asks : ''Why has not The Mother Church 
in Boston, with its seating capacity of five thousand and 
its resident membership doubtless much larger, made 
provisions for a larger Sunday school than one of two 
hundred and fifty members?" 2 

1 Masquerade, pp. 163, 164. 

2 Christian Science, p. 212. In the United States Census of 1906 
the Christian Scientists reported 82,332 members and only 16,116 
Sunday-school scholars. See H. K. Carroll's Religious Forces of the 
United States, p. LVIII. 



164 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

What is the effect of such teaching on domestic relations 
in the home? The author here quotes from Dr. L. P. 
Powell, who is one of the most thoroughly informed and 
most impartial writers on the whole subject of Christian 
Science as he made a wide investigation of it and is al- 
ways quick to .see and acknowledge the good that is in it. 
In immediate connection with the testimony which follows 
he says: **I know that some families have been blessed by 
the conversion of their members to Christian Science. 
I know that a new conception of the dignity and spiritual 
value of self-control has been lodged in many a mind. 
I know that many a husband has been reclaimed from 
dissipation, many a wife from frivolity, by the call of the 
spiritual which in spite of all its errors does echo from 
'Science and Health,'" One who writes in this spirit 
can be trusted when he testifies as follows: 



I could give instances — for I have made inquiries far and wide — 
in which families that have for long years known only happiness and 
concord have suddenly become the prey of discord and division, in 
which the love of husbands for wives and fathers for children has 
dissolved into an unfortunate aloofness, in which wives have ceased, 
except in name, to live as wives, and mothers have come to think of 
children as millstones round their necks, in which daughters have 
ceased to be daughters except before the world, and sisters have 
separated for all time from sisters who declined to go with them into 
Christian Science, in which lovers have broken their engagement 
and friends have given up their lifelong friendship for no reason 
save a difference in the point of view concerning what is nothing 
after all except a problem in pure metaphysics, i 



The doctrine that marriage is "synonomous with 
legalized lust" and that in this world *'the human mind will 
at length demand a higher affection" and "man must 

1 Christian Science, pp. 204, 205. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 165 

find permanence and peace in a more spiritual adherence" 
may at first sight seem to lend itself to purity and be a 
reenforcement in the battle of the spirit against the flesh. 
But flesh and spirit lie close together and it is but a slip 
from the one into the other. Human experience bears 
abundant witness that all theories of "perfection" and 
''entire sanctification" are attended with the danger of 
lapse into sensuality. "Wherefore let him that thinketh 
he standeth take heed lest he fall." The early Christian 
churches were plagued and scandalized with various 
Gnostic sects that proclaimed the "nothingness" of matter 
and of sin and then practiced the grossest immorality. 
The Christian Science doctrine of marriage has in it 
this poisonous germ. People that believe that the mar- 
riage relation should be displaced by "a higher affection" 
and "a more spiritual adherence" will not find it difficult 
to believe that they are so far advanced in "Science" 
that they can make the substitution. In plain truth, 
"a more spiritual adherence" may easily slip into free love. 

Mrs. Josephine Curtis Woodbury, who was once a 
leader in the Christian Science movement and "emerged," 
to use her own words, "from the toils after many years 
of close association with the head of the new chiu^ch," 
referring to marriage in her article in the Arena for May, 
1899, says: "One may well hesitate to touch on this 
delicate topic in print, yet only thus can the immoral 
possibilities and the utter lack of divine inspiration in 
^Christian Science' be shown." 

The author closes the study of the Christian Science 
doctrine of marriage by quoting the view of Dr. Francis 
E. Marsten, a careful and conscientious student of the 
system : 



166 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Call the flesh an "illusion" if you please, call the life of earth a 
dream life, all its most sacred relations only phantoms and shadows, 
educate the young into the belief that sin is nothing, and when 
the moving pictures of the sensuous life enter with the lusts of the 
carnal nature, it will be nothing strange if the dream of the Nico- 
laitans of the first century is dreamed over again in this twentieth 
century. These doctrines touching on marriage promulgated by 
the "Mother" are so subtle and insidious that they constitute a 
formidable menace to social well-being. They strike not at a 
human, but at a divine institution. ^ 

4. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES 

Christian Science, though it started only as a method 
of mind healing, rapidly developed into a religion with a 
church and a creed and an elaborate system of theology. 
It is also professedly a form of the Christian religion, 
and, indeed, it proclaims itself to be a later and completer 
and even the final and perfect form. It apparently ac- 
cepts the Bible and Christ and God after the Christian 
manner, and an uncritical reader of the textbook and 
bible of this new religion in his unsophisticated innocence 
might think that it is only another if not improved form 
of Christianity, only one Christian denomination more. 
Do not Christian Scientists read the Bible and pray in 
their churches? And is it not, then, sectarian narrowness 
and bigotry on the part of Christian churches that they 
do not recognize Christian Science churches as being 
of the same faith? 

But there is abundant reason for the fact that Christian 
churches do not recognize Christian Science churches 
as being in any true sense Christian. This is not at all 
an attitude and spirit of bigotry and uncharity, but is 
only an honest recognition of a plain fact. Mrs. Eddy 
herself repudiates the historical form of Christianity as 

^ The Mask of Christian Science, p. 130. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 167 

utterly bound up with "mortal mind" and therefore 
false, and she and her church will have no part or lot 
with it. Christians and Christian Scientists cannot 
walk together because they do not agree in any distinct- 
ively Christian doctrine. The whole Christian system is 
accepted by these two parties in fundamentally different 
senses that are utterly exclusive of each other. In a word, 
Christian Science drives a dislocating plowshare through 
the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and leaves it a 
different book in every word and idea. It is not simply a 
variant form of historic Christianity, but it is another 
and antagonistic religion as far removed from Christianity 
as is Buddhism, with which, indeed, it has close affinities. 
Christian Science really denies every Christian fact and 
perverts and falsifies every Christian doctrine, in the 
sense in which these facts and doctrines have universally 
been and still are xmderstood by the Church catholic 
and the Christian world. This has aheady been seen 
in detail, and the author will now only briefly recapitulate 
its teaching on these fundamental doctrines. 

(1) Its doctrine of God is pantheism, for it denies the 
personality of God, declaring "God is not person" but 
"God is Principle," a name as impersonal, to use Mrs. 
Eddy's own analogy, as "the principle of mathematics," 
merging God with the totality of being or the universe, 
and rendering him inaccessible to prayer; and thus God 
is lost in a pantheistic world and religion is cut up by the 
roots. 

There is usually an element of truth lurking behind Mrs. 
Eddy's confused statements, and the truth in her oft- 
repeated assertion that "God is infinite, the only Life, 
Substance, Spirit, or Soul, the only intelligence in the 



168 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

universe, including man," is that God is the only absolute 
One who has existence in himself. But he has also created 
the universe and finite spirits, who have relative being 
dependent on him; yet they are separate from him and 
are not to be included or merged in him. 

(2) Its doctrine of creation is pantheistic. It rep- 
resents the whole creation as being simply an unfolding 
of God. "This creation consists of the unfolding of 
spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced 
in the infinite Mind and forever reflected. These ideas 
range from infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest 
ideas are the sons and daughters of God/' Man is the 
**idea" and "reflection'* of God, and he "is incapable of 
sin." 

How, then, did "matter" arise in this purely divine 
universe and how did "mortal mind" originate in man 
who is an idea of God? We are asked to believe that 
the second chapter of Genesis "contains a statement 
of this material view of God and the universe;" and this 
statement "is a lie"! "There went up a mist from the 
earth," and this mist is the origin of "matter" and of 
"mortal mind." But even granting this dogmatic as- 
sumption, how did the "mist" originate in a world that was 
simply the "unfolding of spiritual ideas," or of God? Mrs. 
Eddy tells us that matter, sickness, suffering, sin, and 
death are all "delusions" that arise out of "mortal mind": 
but how did "mortal mind" arise, especially in a world 
in which "God is all" and "all is good"? "Where the 
spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is not, 
evil becomes nothing." Then how in such a world or 
rather in such a God did "mortal mind" get started? 
Mrs. Eddy does not tell us. Here is an unplumbed 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 169 

mystery in her system of interpretation on which she 
throws no light an,d of which she does not appear to be 
aware. She cannot fall back upon the Scriptural doctrine 
that "God made man upright; but they have sought out 
many inventions" (Eccl. 7:29), for in her scheme man in 
his pristine purity was an idea of God "incapable of sin." 
How original man ever got this dreadful thing she calls 
"mortal mind" and just what its relation to man is, are 
insoluble puzzles in her system that must be left in the 
same heap with her other self-contradictions. 

(3) Its doctrine of man is also pantheistic, for it 
reduces man to an idea or reflection of God and denies 
that man has any personality and existence apart from 
God. Though Mrs. Eddy denies that she is a pantheist, 
because she ignorantly confuses pantheism with "a belief 
in the intelligence of matter," yet she is just as certainly 
a thoroughgoing pantheist as Spinoza himself. 

(4) Its doctrine of Christ is a strange dualism, unheard 
of in all the heresies of Church history, according to which 
Jesus is "the highest human corporeal concept of the 
divine idea," apparently meaning God, incarnated in 
"mortal mind," and Christ is "the divine manifestation 
of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate 
error." Such a "concept" leads us to suspect that she 
has taken away our Lord and we know not where to look 
for him. 

(5) Its doctrine of the Holy Spirit is grotesque and 
abhorrent, for it identifies the Holy Spirit with "Divine 
Science." 

(6) Its doctrine of matter, sickness, suffering, sin, 
and death is an utter denial of the reality of these things 
except as pure delusions or false beliefs of "mortal mind" 



170 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

which is itself a false state of belief, and thereby it falsifies 
our senses and our most primary intuitions and surest 
forms of knowledge and blows the universe into nothing- 
ness with a single breath of denial. Such a monstrous 
absurdity is contradicted not only by all our philosophy, 
science, psychology, and ethics, but also by the express 
and implied teachings of the Bible from the first verse 
to the last. On this theory sin is only a bad dream and 
all we need do to get rid of it is to stab ourselves broad 
awake. This doctrine of the nothingness of matter 
and of sin is of ancient Gnostic lineage and it has lost 
none of its antinomian tendency. It is allied to the pan- 
theistic doctrine of illusion that saturates the Orient and 
is so productive of immorality. This denial of the very 
possibility of sin logically sweeps away all barriers against 
the flesh and opens the gates for sensuality to flood the 
soul. If Christian Scientists do not give way to this 
tendency it is because they are better than their 
doctrine. 

(7) Its doctrine of prayer reduces prayer to a state 
of silent meditation which cannot affect God but only 
influences man. *'God is not influenced by man." Such 
a prayer is only a soliloquy and becomes impossible after 
the secret of its true nature is once discovered. One 
cannot really pray to "Principle" any more than to *'the 
principle of mathematics," or to the precession of the 
equinoxes. 

(8) Its doctrine of the atonement is a purely moral 
influence theory, declaring that **the atonement of Christ 
reconciles man to God, not God to man." Such an 
atonement makes no real provision for the divine for- 
giveness of sin, and there appears to be no such forgiveness 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 171 

in Christian Science, for "to remit the penalty due for 
sin, would be for Truth to pardon error." "Sin is not 
forgiven; we cannot escape its penalty. . . SuflFering 
for sin is all that destroys it." Even in The Lord's 
Prayer the petition, "Forgive us our debts," is bleached 
into the colorless sentiment, "Love is reflected in love." 
And so there is no real gospel in Christian Science, no 
good news of an atoning Saviour and a forgiving Father. 
(9) Its doctrine of ordinances rejects baptism and 
wounds and insults the Founder of Christianity by setting 
aside the Last Supper which he instituted with his dis- 
ciples and commanded all his followers, "This do in remem- 
brance of me," the most precious ordinance of the Chris- 
tian Church, and presumes to substitute for it the cele- 
bration of the "morning breakfast" at which Jesus was 
present with his disciples on the shore of Galilee. But 
even this parody of a "Communion Service" was dis- 
continued by Mrs. Eddy in her Mother Church in Boston 
in 1908. It was, indeed, an ordinance better honored 
in the breach than in the observance. 

(10) Its doctrine of marriage discredits this union 
as a temporary condescension to an infirmity of "mortal 
mind," which is really to be gotten rid of as soon as 
possible as being "synonomous with legalized lust" and 
to be replaced by those who are versed in "Science" with 
"a higher affection" and "a more spiritual adherence"; 
a doctrine which is logically subversive of the holy 
relation of marriage and tends to moral laxity. 

(11) Its doctrine of the Bible is that it is to be in- 
preted in "a metaphysical sense" according to which 
everything means something wholly different from what 
the words naturally mean and from what the entire 



172 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Christian world has always believed and ever will believe 
they do mean, and which turns all the sense and sanity 
of the book into absurdities as false and grotesque as 
the absurdities of Christian Science itself. 

(12) Its doctrine of healing is that mind, meaning 
the mind of God, destroys disease as a mere illusion 
or nothing. This is a form of mind cure which will be 
considered in a later chapter. 

(13) Its doctrine of eschatology. "Eschatology" is 
another word we have not found in Mrs. Eddy's writings, 
and if she had lighted on it, it would surely have been 
another sonorous polysyllable in her vocabulary as de- 
lectable to her as **the blessed word Mesopotamia'' was 
to Mrs. Partington. But though she knows not the word 
yet she has the thing, and her eschatology is as peculiar 
and pantheistic as the rest of her scheme. As regards 
this world, she looks forward to a time when marriage 
will be superseded by "a more spiritual adherence," 
when children will be produced without sexual union, 
and when death itself will cease to act as a fatal delusion 
of mortal mind. 

As regards the other world or final state, Mrs. Eddy 
says that the corporeal senses and all sense knowledge 
and pleasure and pain will vanish along with the bad 
dream of the body and the spirit will survive as an idea 
of God, having no personality or existence apart from 
God. What sort of existence this would be we cannot 
tell, but it would appear that it cannot have any con- 
sciousness and certainly no personality. All things will 
dissolve into their original Principle, the clouds and mist 
and raindrops will go back into the eternal sea out of 
which they came, pantheism will have its perfect work 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEACHING 173 

and end, or rather it will keep up its eternal round of 
impersonal and fatalistic change. 

Such is the way Christian Science perverts Christian 
doctrines and gives us for bread a stone, and for jSsh a 
serpent. Probably few people outside of the Christian 
Science churches know what a destructive and absurd 
system of doctrine it is, innocently thinking it is only a 
harmless vagary; and it must be the fact that many people 
in the Christian Science churches are but little better 
informed as to the true teaching of the system, not having 
read for themselves or really understood their obscure and 
mystifying textbook. 

This is the cult that is called "Christian Science," 
the "so-called Christian Science" which Professor G. T. 
Ladd brands as "an almost equally grotesque mixture 
of crude pantheism, misunderstood psychological and 
philosophical truths, and truly Christian beliefs and 
conceptions."! If all the vocabularies of all languages 
had been ransacked for a name, two more inappropriate 
words could not have been found to be applied to this 
system; and it is a pity and scandal that two of the most 
significant and noblest words in the English tongue should 
have been prostituted to the ignoble use of naming this 
false religion and scientific monstrosity. As Voltaire said 
of the "Holy Roman Empire" that it was not an empire 
and was not Roman and was not holy, so must it be said 
of Christian Science that it is not science and it is not 
Christian. 

1 Philosophy of Religion, vol. I, p. 167. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 

When Mrs. Eddy began to teach her system of mind 
cure she had no thought of founding a reUgion and a 
church. The title of her book ^'Science and Health" 
shows this, the addition "'With Key to the Scriptures'* 
being an afterthought which was added in 1884, several 
years after she began to dream of the day when the church 
bells would ring in her honor. She not only had no 
thought of a church, but she expressly declared against 
such an institution. 

It is true, however, that she began to organize her work 
at an early date, for she was farseeing enough to know 
that it could not grow and last unless it had an organized 
form. 

1. FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST 

In June, 1875, eight of Mrs. Eddy's students met 
together under the name of "the Christian Scientists" 
and subscribed money to have her address them each 
Sunday, and in July of the next year they formed **The 
Christian Scientists' Association." These loose associa- 
tions, however, did not meet the needs of Mrs. Eddy and 
her students. Her followers were practically all from 
Christian churches, and they found the air of a mere 
metaphysical association too thin and cold to supply 
their emotional and religious demands. Mrs. Eddy, who 

174 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 175 

was always an opportunist and was quick to see and 
adapt herself to new situations, responded with alacrity 
to the call of the hour. In fact, this turn of affairs gave 
her a new idea and one that dominated her whole after 
life. 

In 1879 she founded her first church organization, 
naming it *'The Church of Christ, Scientist," a charter 
being applied for on August 6 of that year. All these 
proceedings were conducted secretly so as not to come to 
the knowledge of the "mesmerists" Spofford and Kennedy, 
even care being taken to select a notary before whom the 
papers could be signed who could be vouched for by one 
of the members as having no affiliation with these danger- 
ous people. 1 The purpose of the corporation was stated 
to be **to carry on and transact the business necessary to 
the worship of God," Boston was named as the place where 
the church was to be located, and there were twenty-six 
charter members. 

For sixteen months the church had no regular place 
of meeting and services were held in the homes of various 
members in Lynn and Boston. The minutes of the 
meetings show that attendance at these early services 
was very small, sometimes falling as low as four or five. 
The service consisted of silent prayer or Mrs. Eddy's 
interpretation of The Lord's Prayer and readings from 
"Science and Health" and from the Scriptures. Mrs. 
Eddy usually delivered an address, her subject frequently 
being "mesmerism." The record for September 5, 1880, 
reads as follows : 

^ The facts as to the founding of the Christian Science Church are 
mostly taken from Milmine, History, ch. XIV, and from Mrs. 
Eddy's ** Historical Sketch" found in the Manual of the Mother 
Church. 



176 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Meeting opened by Mrs. Damon In the usual way. Mrs. M. B. G. 
Eddy, having completed her summer vacation, was present and 
delivered a discourse on Mesmerism. Whole number in attendance, 
twenty-two. 

The record shows that the subject on the following 
Sunday was again '^Mesmerism." On December 12, 
1880, the Christian Scientists began to hold their services 
in Hawthorne Hall on Park Street, Boston, and the follow- 
ing passage from Miss Milmine's "History" gives an in- 
teresting picture of these meetings : 

Mrs. Eddy usually preached and conducted the services, though 
occasionally one of her students took her place, and now and again 
a minister of some other denomination was invited to occupy the 
pulpit. In spite of the fact that she was always effective on the 
rostrum, Mrs. Eddy seemed to dread these Sunday services. The 
necessity for wearing glasses embarrassed her. When she sometimes 
wore glasses in her own home, she apologized for doing so, explaining 
that it was a habit she often rose above, but that at times the 
mesmerists were too strong for her. She believed that the mes- 
merists set to work upon her before the hour of the weekly services, 
and on Sunday morning her faithful students were sometimes called 
to her house to treat her against Kennedy, Spofford, and Arens, 
until she took the train for Boston. 

After her formal removal from Lynn to Boston in 1882, 
"she constantly learned from her new associates, even to 
the extent of resolutely breaking herself of certain un- 
grammatical habits of speech — no mean achievement for 
a woman above sixty.'* It certainly is an astonishing 
fact that this woman who had passed her sixtieth birthday 
and was yet utterly unknown outside of a little circle in 
and around Boston and was generally regarded with 
pitying amusement or contempt as a visionary with a 
queer obsession, afterwards became and now is one of 
the most widely known women in the world and to-day 
is the religious leader of a considerable body of people. 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 177 

Mrs. Eddy became "pastor" of her church in 1881. 
"When others preached," writes Mrs. Josephine C. 
Woodbury, who was once one of her closest associates, 
"she occasionally attended the church whereof she was 
nominally pastor, and took some part in the service. Once 
she held a baptismal service without water, though her 
memory failed her in repeating the formula prepared by 
herself; and sometimes there was a communion service, 
without water or wine. Most Sundays, however, she 
worshiped God in the privacy of her own home. If wonder 
was expressed at her absence, the adoring disciples re- 
plied, *How could she, the divinely inspired, bear to hear 
ordinary preaching/ "^ 

The place of meeting of the Christian Science Church 
was removed from Hawthorne Hall to Chickering Hall 
and finally to its permanent location on Falmouth Street 
in the fashionable Back Bay district. The purchase of 
this location was itself a complicated and curious trans- 
action in which Mrs. Eddy played a characteristic part, 
finally getting the lot entirely into her own hands by 
what she herself called "a circuitous, novel way" and 
giving her absolute control of the church property. 2 On 
this lot was built the original "Mother Church," a gray 
granite structure seating 1100, which was dedicated on 
January 6, 1895. Eleven years later in 1906 there was 
dedicated the splendid marble church called the "Annex" 
which seats 5000, the whole property costing more than 
$2,000,000. The twenty-six charter members of 1879 had 
grown by 1894 to 2978 as reported at the second annual 

1 The Arena, May 1899, pp. 564, 565. 

2 The full story of this affair is told by Miss Milmine, History, pp. 
399-406. 



178 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

business meeting held in that year. Money to build the 
original "Mother Church'* with its imposing "Annex" 
had flowed into the treasury in copious streams and the 
Christian Science Church was at the high tide of pros- 
perity. 

2. DISSENSIONS IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 

The course of Church history never did run smooth, and 
Christian Science has had its full share. Dissensions 
among the followers of Mrs. Eddy began early. Her 
peculiar temperament, jealous and irritable, dictatorial 
and intolerant, left small room for other personalities of 
any individuality and independence and no room for 
opinions different from hers. We have already seen 
how she became involved in quarrels and lawsuits with 
student after student in her early years in Lynn, and this 
unhappy disposition and fate plagued her to the end. 
Many of her most prominent and efficient followers and 
workers withdrew from her fellowship sind church, some 
of them going off to start rival healing movements. 
Christian Science has given birth to a surprising number of 
sects or "denominations.'* "Disgruntled Christian Scien- 
tists," says Miss Milmine, "usually went off and started 
a church of their own, and there were by this time (1896) 
almost as many ^reformed' varieties of Christian Science 
as there were dissenters. Mrs. Gestefield taught one 
kind in Chicago, Mrs. Crosse another kind in Boston, 
Frank Mason another in Brooklyn, Captain Sabin was 
soon to teach another in Washington, while nearly all 
the students who had quarreled with Mrs. Eddy or broken 
away from her were teaching or practicing some variety 
of mind cure." 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 179 

The first serious dissension in Mrs. Eddy's church and 
withdrawal from it occurred in 1881 when eight prominent 
members signed the following statement: 



We, the undersigned, while we acknowledge and appreciate the 
understanding of Truth imparted to us by our Teacher, Mrs. Mary 
B. G. Eddy, led by Divine Intelligence to perceive with sorrow that 
departure from the straight and narrow road (which alone leads to 
growth of Christlike virtues) made manifest by frequent ebullitions 
of temper, love of money, and the appearance of hypocrisy, cannot 
longer submit to such Leadership; therefore, without aught of 
hatred, revenge or petty spite in our hearts, from a sense of duty 
alone, to her, the Cause, and ourselves, do most respectfully with- 
draw our names from the Christian Science Association and Church 
of Christ (Scientist). 

S. DURANT, 

MARGARET J. DUNSHEE, 
DORCAS B. RAWSON, 
ELIZABETH G. STUART. 
JANE L. STRAW, 
ANNA B. NEWMAN, 
JAMES C. HOWARD, 
MIRANDA M. RICE. 
21st October, 1881. 



These resignations came to Mrs. Eddy as a complete 
sm'prise, and no wonder she was filled with indignation, 
for it must have shocked *'the Discoverer and Founder" 
of this new faith to find herself charged with heresy, bad 
temper, the love of money, and hypocrisy. But she 
quickly recovered her poise and, instead of accepting the 
eight resignations, notified the resigning members that 
they were liable to expulsion and summoned them to ap- 
pear at a church meeting. They refused to appear, but at 
the meeting two more members, including the secretary of 
the church, resigned, stating that they "could no longer 
entertain the subject of Mesmerism which had lately 
been made uppermost in the meetings and in Mrs. Eddy's 



^ 



180 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

talks." Mrs. Eddy was left with scarcely a dozen students 
in Lynn, and this first schism was a blow to her church 
in that city from which it has not recovered to this day. 
The secession of 1881 was followed by a more serious 
division in 1888. Trouble had been brewing for several 
years over a variety of causes. Some of Mrs. Eddy's 
students were disillusionized, including Mrs. Sarah Crosse, 
editor of the Journal. The chief trouble, however, 
arose over a notorious case in obstetrics. One of her 
students, Mrs. Abbey H. Corner, had attended her own 
daughter in childbirth, and both mother and child had 
died. The case aroused wide indignation, action was 
brought against Mrs. Corner, and then Mrs. Eddy com- 
pletely repudiated her own student, though the Christian 
Scientists' Association stood by Mrs. Corner and paid 
her attorney out of its treasury. A stormy meeting of 
the association followed and thirty-two members resigned 
from it. However, they found themselves confronted 
and blocked by one of Mrs. Eddy's by-laws, which read: 

Resolved, That everyone who wishes to withdraw without reason 
shall be considered to have broken his oath. 

Resolved, That breaking the Christian Scientists' oath is im- 
morality. 

Members had already been expelled for this "immoral- 
ity." The dissenting faction got hold of the books of 
the association and refused to surrender them until Mrs. 
Eddy signed the letters of dismissal as president of the 
association. The withdrawal of these thirty-two from 
less than two hundred members again seriously weakened 
Mrs. Eddy's church. But she always quickly rallied 
after these losses and smoothed over the secession of 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 181 

1888 by writing in the Journal of September in that year: 
**The late much ado about nothing arose solely from mental 
malicious practice, and the audible falsehood designed to 
stir up strife between brethren, for the purpose of placing 
Christian Science in the hands of aspirants for place and 
power," But she was always expert at keeping beyond 
the reach of the law and it was at this juncture that she 
secured the service of Dr. E. J. Foster as "assistant in 
obstetrics," and announced in the Journal: "Doctor 
Foster will teach the anatomy and surgery of obstetrics, 
and I, its metaphysics. The combination of his knowledge 
of Christian Science with his anatomical skill, renders 
him a desirable teacher in this department of my college. 
In twenty years* practice he has not had a single case of 
mortality at childbirth." 

Whenever anyone, especially a woman, became promi- 
nent in the Christian Science Church and appeared to 
be looming up as a rival of its "Discoverer and Founder," 
this exalted personage soon found a way of removing her. 
One of her students who was overtaken by this unhappy 
fate was Mrs. Josephine Curtis Woodbury, who had been 
associated with Mrs. Eddy as one of her foremost teachers 
and healers since 1879. She it was who gave birth to a 
son in 1890, as the result, as her followers believed, of an 
"immaculate conception," the possibility of which had 
been taught by Mrs. Eddy herself. The child was named 
"The prince of peace" and was often called "Little 
Immanuel." By the time of its birth, however, strained 
relations had arisen between the two women, and Mrs. 
Eddy promptly branded it "an imp of Satan." Mrs. 
Woodbury had imagination and was a woman of much 
greater culture than Mrs. Eddy and was able to give to 



182 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Christian Science "an emotional coloring which was very 
distasteful to Mrs. Eddy herself." She had preached and 
lectured east and west and had conducted a school of 
her own in Boston, and all this was viewed with jealousy 
by Mrs. Eddy, and she soon found a way of excluding 
and then excommunicating her dangerous rival. Mrs. 
Woodbury now renounced Christian Science and all its 
works and especially its "Discoverer and Founder" in 
an article in the Arena of May, 1899, in which she says, 
"the writer has emerged from the toils after many years 
of close association with the head of the new church." 
Mrs. Eddy promptly retaliated the next month in her 
annual message to the Mother Church in which she used 
language which disclosed what fountains of rage and 
bitterness were hidden in the heart of her whom Christian 
Scientists are fond of characterizing as "a sweet-spirited 
and gentle woman." Mrs. Woodbury's husband died 
almost immediately after the appearance of her article 
in the Arena, and this fact turns some of Mrs. Eddy's 
words into daggers. "In language," says Mr. Peabody, 
"seldom or never before equaled for cruelty and brutality, 
Mrs. Eddy assailed Mrs, Woodbury. Pretending, herself, 
to be *the woman arrayed with the sun,' spoken of in the 
book of Revelation, Mrs. Eddy denounced Mrs. Woodbury 
as the Babylonish woman there referred to." We give 
only a few sentences from this address which was read 
from the pulpit of the Mother Church in June, 1899: 

The doom of the Babylonish woman referred to in Revelation is 
being fulfilled. This woman, drunken with the blood of the saints 
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, drunk of the wine of her 
fornication, would enter even the church and retaining the heart of 
the harlot and the purpose of the destroying angel. . . poison such 
as drink of the living water. . . Double unto double, according to 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 183 

her work: in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. For 
shesaithinherheart lamno widow. . . Therefore shall her plague 
come in one day, death, mourning and famine: for strong is the Lord 
who judgeth her. That which the revelator saw in spiritual vision 
will be accomplished. The Babylonish woman is fallen: and who 
shall mourn over the widowhood of lust, of her that hath become 
the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit and the 
cage of every unclean bird.^ 

Christian Scientists would be glad to forget and es- 
pecially to have the public forget this odious language, 
but it was published in the Christian Science Sentinel 
where it can be read to this day. 

As Christian Science churches were founded in other 
cities than Boston they began to acquire influence and their 
pastors became leaders and attained prominence. Mrs. 
Augusta E. Stetson was pastor of a specially strong church 
in New York, Mrs. Ewing was pastor of such a church 
in Chicago, Mrs. Leonard in Brooklyn, Mrs. Williams in 
Buffalo, Mrs. Norcross in Denver, and Mrs. Steward in 
Toronto. Mrs. Eddy began to scent danger of rivalry 
and of the possible beginning of differing creeds and cults 
and budding denominations in these churches, and she 
took prompt and effective measures to cut short any 
such tendencies. In the Journal of April, 1895, she an- 
nounced without warning that there were to be no more 
pastors or preachers^ but instead a First and a Second 
Reader and that the Sunday sermon was to consist only 
of extracts from the Bible and from "'Science and Health.'* 
Her first arrangement was that the First Reader would 
read from the Bible and then the Second Reader would 
follow with the selection from her own book, but she 
soon reversed this order, and now it is the Second Reader 

1 Masquerade, pp. 10-14. 



184 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

that reads from the Bible and the First Reader that reads 
from ^'Science and Health.'^ This order emptied at one 
fell swoop every Christan Science pulpit of its pastor. 
"In 1895 I ordained the Bible and 'Science and Health* 
with 'Key to the Scriptm-es/ as the Pastor, on this 
planet, of all the chm-ches of the Christian Science de- 
nomination.'* "Did anyone expect such a revelation, 
such a new departure would be given?" humbly wrote 
one of the deposed pastors in the August Journal. "No, 
not in the way it came. . . Such disclosures are too 
high for us to perceive. To One alone did the message 
come.** Mrs. Eddy thus made it certain that there would 
be no successor to herself as "Pastor" of The Mother 
Church and no more "pastors" anywhere in the Christian 
Science churches, for she had made the Bible and her 
own book "the Pastor on this planet** for all time. 

The order to retire from the pulpit as pastor fell with 
special hardship on Mrs. Stetson in New York. She 
also, like Mrs. Woodbury, was a woman of finer fiber and 
broader culture than Mrs. Eddy, and she had built up a 
flourishing and influential church in the metropolis. She 
had, however, become altogether too conspicuous and was 
filling too large a place in the public eye. It was also 
being rumored that she was in training to succeed Mrs. 
Eddy as the head and leader of Christian Science, and 
this in itself was a mortal sin. She bowed to the decree 
to retire from the pulpit of her own church and wrote a 
letter to Mrs. Eddy, addressed to "My precious Leader,** 
in which she protested her loyalty in nauseating terms, 
which yet made the impression that she was protesting al- 
together too much. She had announced the plan of build- 
ing a new and magnificent church on the fashionable 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 185 

Riverside Drive in New York which was to "rival in 
beauty of architecture any other rehgious structure in 
America." Such a project looked too much like a rival 
to the two million dollar Mother Church in Boston, and 
Mrs. Eddy promptly put her foot on it. It was announced 
in her church organ that Mrs. Eddy was not pleased "with 
what purport to be plans of First Chiu-ch of Christ Scientist 
of New York City, for she learned of this proposed rival to 
The Mother Church for the first time, in the daily press." 
The editorial further stated that "three leading facts 
remain immortal in the history of Christian Science," 
namely: 

1. This Science is already established, and it has the support of 
all true Christian Scientists throughout the world. 

2. Any competition or any rivalry in Christian Science is abnormal, 
and will expose and explode itself. 

3. Any attempt at rivalry or superiority in Christian Science is 
unchristian; therefore it is unscientific. The great Teacher said; 
"As ye would that men should do to you, do ye." 

But still Mrs. Stetson loomed large in New York, and 
Mrs. Eddy could endure no rival priestess and altar 
anywhere. At length the New York leader was summoned 
to appear before the directors of The Mother Church in 
Boston where she was subjected to a kind of court-martial 
trial. She was found guilty of the following charges as 
summarized by Miss Milmine: 

"Erroneous teaching of Christian Science; the exercise of undue 
influence over her students, which tended to hinder their moral and 
spiritual growth; turning the attention of her students to herself 
away from divine principle; teaching and practicing contrary to 
'Science and Health;* and finally, that *Mrs. Stetson attempts to 
control and injure persons by mental means, this being utterly 
contrary to the teachings of Christian Science/ '* She was oflScially 
deprived of her rank as a healer and as a teacher and forbidden to 



186 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

teach or practice Christian Science and "placed on a three years' 
probation, at the conclusion of which, if her conduct has been ex- 
emplary and if she has met Mrs. Eddy's requirements as to loyalty, 
she may, if Mrs. Eddy sees fit, again be permitted to teach and 
practice." 

The dictator's despotic hand is plainly visible in these 
terms. Mrs. Eddy's personal will determined everything. 
The same autocratic condemnation also fell upon sixteen 
practitioners and eight of the nine trustees of the First 
Church of New York who were supporters of Mrs. Stetson. 
The outcome of this celebrated case was that Mrs. Stetson 
was expelled from The Mother Church in Boston, but 
she still claims to be loyal to Mrs. Eddy's teachings 
and is conducting the *'New York City Christian Science 
Institute."! 

The lawsuits that swarmed around Mrs. Eddy in her 
life have pursued and plagued her church since her death. 
When she transferred her large property to trustees she 
sowed the seed of a new crop of lawsuits. Both the 
directors and the trustees of The Mother Church have 
had internal dissensions. In 1919 the directors removed 
one of their number, who then appealed to the court 
for reinstatement and the decision was in his favor. A 
clash arose between the two boards. The directors 
claimed authority over the trustees, removed one of their 
number on the ground that he had "allowed a sense of 
self-interest to interfere with the interests of Christian 

^ A full history of this case is given in Vital Issues in Christian 
Science^ sl large volume issued by Mrs. Stetson in 1914. Charges of 
"animal magnetism'' and other malicious practices fly back and 
forth between Boston and New York, and the volume throws 
interesting light into the medieval beliefs and autocratic star chamber 
proceedings and warring factions and inside troubles of Christian 
Science. 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 187 

Science,'* and also endeavored to interfere with the control 
of the trustees over the publishing house of the church. 
In March, 1919, the trustees brought suit to have the 
directors restrained from interfering with their conduct 
of the Publishing Society's afiFairs. The trustees con- 
tended that the directors' power was limited and that 
they had no right to remove any member of the Board 
of Trustees. The decision of the coiu't was rendered 
in December, 1919, and it established the contention 
of the trustees that they are in no way subordinate to 
the directors and that the directors have no legal power 
to control or remove members of the Board of Trustees. 
The case was then referred by the court to a master, and 
on March 6, 1920, he rendered his decision confirming 
the decision of the court. 

This litigation over millions of dollars of trust funds 
and involving the supreme power of control in the church, 
accompanied with much bitter personal animosity, has 
rocked the Christian Science organization from top to 
bottom. It caused dissension and disruption in the 
Seventh Church of Christ, Scientist, in New York. At 
a meeting of this church on February 22, 1920, the follow- 
ing resolutions were adopted* 

This is a very crucial moment in the growth of our beloved cause 
and also in that of the Seventh Church. Disloyalty to the Manual 
of the Mother Church and to the Directors of The Mother Church 
seems rampant throughout the field. This disloyalty has tried to 
gain a footing in the Seventh Church. Loyalty to a disloyal student 
of Christian Science is considered disloyalty in itself. 

The resolutions then demanded that no persons in the 
church be permitted to hold office who refused to declare 
publicly in favor of the directors and against the trustees 



188 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

in the Boston lawsuit. The First Reader of the church 
refused to sign this declaration and was then removed 
from his office, and he and about one third of the con- 
gregation, who also refused to sign the resolutions, went 
off and formed another church. 

The case in Boston still goes to the Supreme Court of 
the State, further lawsuits are threatened in New York, 
and the end is not yet. 

3. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 

The first organization of the '*Church of Christ, Scien- 
tist," which was effected in 1879, continued until 1890, 
when Mrs. Eddy abolished it by one fell decree. The 
members continued to meet and hold services as before, 
but there were no more business meetings. The reason 
given in the Journal for this revolutionary and arbitrary 
action was that **the bonds of the church were thrown away 
so that its members might assemble themselves together 
to 'provoke one another to good works' in the bond only 
of love." As usual, however, there was method in Mrs. 
Eddy's apparent madness, and it was seen in due time 
that she was playing a deep game by which she was plan- 
ning to get the church in its whole organization and 
property completely in her own hands so that there 
would be no more rebellions and rivals in it. It was dur- 
ing this interval of disorganization that she obtained 
possession, in her "circuitous, novel way," of the lot on 
Falmouth Street and then conveyed it to her own self- 
chosen directors in a deed which provides that ''Whenever 
said directors shall determine that it is inexpedient to 
maintain preaching, reading, or speaking in said church 
in accordance with the terms of this deed, they are author- 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 189 

ized to reconvey forthwith said lot of land with the building 
thereon, to Mary Baker G. Eddy, her heirs and assigns 
forever, by a proper deed of conveyance/* She thus 
secured an unbreakable grip on this property, which with 
its costly building is worth more than $2,000,000 and to 
which she contributed only $5000. 

This notable deed bears the date of September 1, 1892. 
The ground was now cleared for a new organization 
of her church, and on September 23, 1892, three weeks 
and one day after the date of the deed, the church was 
reorganized. Mrs. Eddy herself appointed the officers 
and also twelve '^charter members,'' who had the power 
of admitting new members by ballot, a device by which 
she was able to keep out of the new church such members 
of the old organization as did not suit her. The new 
organization now became The Mother Church and head 
of all other Christian Science churches throughout the 
world, which are branches of it, many of the members 
of the branch churches also being members of The Mother 
Church in Boston. The twelve ^'charter members" with 
certain others became *Tirst Members," and these by a 
by-law adopted March 17, 1903, became ^'Executive 
Members," and these disappeared by the repeal of this 
by-law on July 8, 1908.1 

The Mother Church is governed by the "Manual of 
The Mother Church, By Mary Baker Eddy," which 
contains "the Church Tenets, Rules, and By-Laws, as 
prepared by Mrs. Eddy," and is published by the Chris- 
tian Science Publishing Society and is now in its eighty- 
ninth edition. This little book of 139 pages is almost 
as important in the history and doings of Christian 

^Manual, p. 18. 



190 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Science as "Science and Health" itself. It is really the 
hub of the whole organization out of which run spokes 
to every point on the circumference. It is a master- 
piece of despotic origination and control out of which 
every trace of democracy and initiative and individuality 
has been carefully erased. In nothing has Mrs. Eddy 
shown her dominating and domineering spirit and her 
deep-rooted suspicion and jealousy of rivalry and re- 
bellion and disloyalty and her cunning in guarding every 
point and keeping everything in her own hands and in 
the hands of "her heirs and assigns forever'* as in this 
little book. Her hand has written or dictated every line 
of it and every line bears the impress of her authorship 
and design. It was a growth, and she was able to meet 
every emergency with a new "rule'* or "by-law" that 
put some enemy out of business or secured some personal 
end. No kaiser or Russian czar ever wielded such ar- 
bitrary power as she clothed herself with as with a purple 
robe in this "Manual" and ruthlessly exercised. Bismarck 
would have envied the genius that conceived it. Machia- 
velli would have marveled at it as a masterpiece. The 
pope himself is a pale specter as compared with Mrs. 
Eddy and has no such ecclesiastical authority as is em- 
bodied in this little book. Yet Christian Scientists in 
democratic America meekly submit to it and have "no 
more voice in the management of the church than has 
the audience in the management of a theater."^ 

1 Mark Twain devotes a considerable part of his book Christian 
Science to a sarcastic exposition and ridicule of this Manual. **In 
1895, she wrote a little primer, a little body of autocratic laws, 
called the Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and put 
those laws in force, in permanence. Her government is all there; 
all in that deceptively innocent-looking little book, that cunning 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 191 

The preface to the book is a quotation from a letter of 
Mrs. Eddy's in ''Miscellaneous Writings'* and is as 
follows : 

The Rules and By-Laws in the Manual of The First Church of 
Christ, Scientist, Boston, originated not in solemn conclave as in 
ancient sanhedrin. They were not arbitrary opinions nor dictatorial 
demands, such as one person might impose on another. They were 
impelled by a power not one's own, were written at different dates, 
and as the occasion required. They sprang from necessity, the 
logic of events — from the immediate demand for them as a help that 
must be supplied to maintain the dignity and defense of our Cause; 
hence their simple, scientific basis, and detail so requisite to demon- 
strate genuine Christian Science, and which will do for the race 
what absolute doctrines destined for future generations might not 
accomplish. 

This preface bears all the marks of Mrs. Eddy's fine 
hand — the mock modesty ("not arbitrary opinions nor 
dictatorial demands"), the claim of divine inspiration 
("impelled by a power not one's own"), and the bland 
assumption of legislating "for the race." But in spite 
of this denial these rules are emphatically "arbitrary 
opinions" and "dictatorial demands,'* and there was 
never a truer word said than the admission that these 
"Rules and By-Laws'* "were written at different times, 
and as the occasion required"; and "the occasion required" 
very often and in connection with the most trivial 
point or incident, especially when the occasion touched 
Mrs. Eddy herself in the slightest way. When she found 
that her rival in New York, Mrs. Stetson, was still teach- 
ing in her church, it was quickly written in Article XXIII 
that "Teachers and practitioners of Christian Science 

little devilish book, that slumbering little brown volcano, with hell 
in its bowels. In that book she planned out her system, and classi- 
fied and defined its purposes." Pp. 343-344. 



192 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

shall not have their oflSces or rooms in the branch churches, 
in the reading rooms, nor in rooms connected therewith," 
and Mrs. Stetson at once retired with her classes to her 
own home. When she found that she was being annoyed 
by people loitering around her house and along the road 
in the hope of seeing her she stopped the impertinence 
by what is rather strangely called "The Golden Rule'* 
and which declares: ''A member of The Mother Church 
shall not haunt Mrs. Eddy's drive when she goes out, 
continually stroll by her house, or make a summer resort 
near her for such purpose." When Mark Twain ridiculed 
her assumption of the title * 'Mother," she changed Article 
XXII in an astounding manner. This article originally 
read: 

The Title Mother. In the year 1895 loyal Christian Scientists 
had given to the author of their textbook, the Founder of Christian 
Science, the individual, endearing term of Mother. Therefore, if a 
student of Christian Science shall apply this title, either to herself 
or to others, except as the term for kinship according to the flesh, it 
shall be regarded by the Church as an indication of disrespect for 
their Pastor-Emeritus, and unfitness to be a member of The Mother 
Church. 

After Mark Twain's ridicule of this particular bit of 
conceit and silliness, the article was changed to read as 
it now stands : 



The Title of Mother Changed. In the year eighteen hundred and 
ninety-five, loyal Christian Scientists had given to the author of 
their textbook, the Founder of Christian Science, the individual, 
endearing term of Mother. At first Mrs. Eddy objected to being 
called thus, but afterward consented on the ground that this appel- 
lative in the Church meant nothing more than a tender term such as 
sister or brother. In the year nineteen hundred and three and after, 
owing to the public misunderstanding of this name, it is the duty of 
Christian Scientists to drop this word **mother'* and to substitute 
"Leader,*' already used in our periodicals. 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 193 

The contradictory statements in these two forms of 
this article need no comment. The name **Leader," 
however, having been appropriated by Mrs. Eddy, in- 
stantly became sacred and restricted to her, and any 
other member "shall not be called Leader by members 
of this Church.'' 

Nothing is too trivial to escape Mrs. Eddy's eye and hand 
and every slightest detail is fixed in this ^'Manual." For 
example. Article XXIII designates the title of The Mother 
Church as '*The First Church of Christ, Scientist," and 
then adds: "but the article 'The' must not be used before 
titles of branch churches, nor written on applications 
for membership in naming such churches." And thus 
"that imperial word THE," says Mark Twain, "lifts 
The Mother Church away up in the sky" along with 
"the Milky Way, the Bible, the Earth, the Equator, the 
Devil. . . and by clamor of edict and By-Law Mrs. 
Eddy gives personal notice to all branch Scientist Churches 
on this planet to leave that THE alone." As another 
instance of meticulous supervision of trivial details, "The 
Mother Church shall not. . . enter into a business 
transaction with a Christian Scientist in the employ of 
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, without first consulting her on 
said subject and adhering strictly to her advice thereon." 

Extraordinary care is taken to guard the sovereignty 
and dignity and feelings of Mrs. Eddy, and her simple 
word is enough to convict a member of an oflEense. Article 
XI, on "Complaints," has 13 sections, and they are 
mostly concerned with Mrs. Eddy. To quote from this 
Article as follows: 

Any member who shall unjustly aggrieve or vilify the Pastor 
Emeritus or another member, or who does not live in Christian 



194 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

fellowship with this Church, shall either withdraw from the Church 
or be excommunicated. . . If a member of this church shall, 
mentally or otherwise, persist in working against the interests of 
another member, or the interests of our Pastor Emeritus and the 
accomplishment of what she understands is advantageous to this 
Church and to the Cause of Christian Science, or shall influence 
others thus to act, upon her complaint or the complaint of a member 
for her or for himself, it shall be the duty of the Board of Directors 
immediately to call a meeting, and drop forever the name of the 
member guilty of this offense from the roll of Church membership. 
. . If a member of this Church were to treat the author of our 
textbook disrespectfully and cruelly, upon her complaint that 
member should be excommunicated. If a member, without her 
having requested the information, shall trouble her on subjects 
unnecessarily and without her consent, it shall be considered an 
offense. . . If the author of "Science and Health'* shall bear 
witness to the offense of malpractice, it shall be considered a sufficient 
evidence thereof. . . If a member of The Mother Church publishes, 
or causes to be published, an article that is false or unjust, hence 
injurious, to Christian Science or to its Leader, and if, upon com- 
plaint by another member, the Board of Directors finds that the 
offense has been committed, the offender shall be suspended for not 
less than three years from his or her office in this Church and from 
Church membership. . . If a member of this Church, either by 
word or work, represents falsely to or of the Leader and Pastor 
Emeritus, said member shall be immediately disciplined, and a 
second similar offense shall remove his or her name from member- 
ship of The Mother Church. . . A member of The Mother Church 
and a branch church of Christ, Scientists, shall not report nor send 
notices to The Mother Church, or to the Pastor Emeritus, of errors 
of the members of their local church; but they shall strive to over- 
come these errors.^ 

It will be seen from these personal rules relating to 
Mrs. Eddy, and these instances might be multiplied, 
how dangerous it was in her lifetime to be a member of 
the Christian Science Church. A single word from her 

^ It is of this "Pastor Emeritus," whose "personality" is so 
sedulously guarded and extravagantly exalted all through this 
Manual, that an official Christian Science publication says: "No 
human being in modern times was farther removed from a desire to 
perpetuate a sense of personality than Mary Baker Eddy, the Dis- 
coverer and Founder of Christian Science." The Christian Science 
Quarterly, February, 1920. 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 195 

could send any member into outer darkness. And her 
despotic power was rendered infinitely more dangerous 
by reason of the fact that she claimed she could read the 
minds of people and infallibly discern their very thoughts 
and motives. "I possess," she declared, *'a spiritual 
sense of what the malicious mental practitioner is mentally 
arguing which cannot be deceived; I discern in the human 
mind thoughts, motives, and purposes; and neither 
mental arguments nor psychic power can affect this 
spiritual insight."^ What priestly inquisitor or pope ever 
had such power as this? It was by the swift stroke of 
this sharp sword that the heads of Kennedy and Spoff ord 
and Mrs. Woodbury and Mrs. Stetson and many other 
members and leaders metaphorically fell into her basket. 

With this fateful Manual in hand, let us look into the 
government and administration of the Christian Science 
Church. Article I, Section 1, says: "'The Church officers 
shall consist of the Pastor Emeritus, a Board of Directors, 
a President, a Clerk, a Treasurer, and two Readers." 
How are all these officers elected.'^ *'The Christian Science 
Board of Directors shall consist of five members. They 
shall fill a vacancy occurring on that Board after the 
candidate is approved by the Pastor Emeritus. A ma- 
jority vote or the request of Mrs. Eddy shall dismiss 
a member. Members shall neither report the discussion 
of this Board, nor those with Mrs. Eddy." Did Bismarck 
or any pope or secret conclave ever dream of anything 
like that? She makes the board, fills vacancies, and by 
a mere request can dismiss any member of it! This 
Board of Directors is the highest governing body of the 
church, and Mrs. Eddy holds it right in her hand. It 

^ Christian Science History, by Mary B. G. Eddy, p. 16. 



196 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

dare not do one thing displeasing to her, for she can dismiss 
the whole body with a single stroke of her pen and start 
all over again with a new board of her own appointment. 
Now that she is gone, we suppose this board fills its 
vacancies without being subject to any veto power, 
but as long as she had a breath in her body it had no 
independent will and power whatever. 

Now let us see what this Board of Directors can do, 
always subject to the approval and control of Mrs. Eddy. 
The Church, as we have seen in Article I, Section 1, has 
officers consisting of a President, Clerk, Treasurer, and 
two Readers. How are they elected.^ "The President 
shall be elected, subject to the approval of the Pastor 
Emeritus, by the Board of Directors." The clerk and 
the treasurer are elected **at the annual meeting held 
for this purpose, by a unanimous vote of the Christian 
Science Board of Directors and the consent of the Pastor 
Emeritus in her own handwriting." Mrs. Eddy always 
had a special care for financial matters and therefore 
the election of the treasurer must not only have her 
consent, but this consent must be given in writing and 
"in her own handwriting" at that. It will be recalled 
that Article XXI forbids The Mother Church to "enter 
into any business transaction with a Christian Scientist 
in the employ of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy without first 
consulting her on said subject and adhering strictly to 
her advice." She was a masterly financier and took no 
chances with any treasurer or business transaction. 

The Board of Directors has a Finance Committee 
consisting of three members who "shall be appointed 
annually by the Christian Science Board of Directors 
and with the consent of the Pastor Emeritus"; and it 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 197 

also has a Committee on Business of three members, 
"who shall transact promptly and efficiently such business 
as Mrs. Eddy, the Directors, or the Committee on Pub- 
lication shall commit to it,'' and before being elected to 
this committee the names of the candidates "shall be 
presented to Mrs. Eddy for her written approval." 

The two readers are important officers in the Christian 
Science Church. How are they elected.'^ "Every third 
year Readers shall be elected in The Mother Church 
by the Board of Directors, which shall inform the Pastor 
Emeritus of the names of the candidates before they are 
elected; and if she objects, said candidates shall not be 
chosen.'* 

But how are readers and officers in branch churches 
controlled.'^ This "Manual" of rules is only for The 
Mother Church, and branch churches are forbidden to 
adopt or even copy it. "Each Church of Christ, Scientist, 
shall have its own form of government." It is amusing 
to read that "In Christian Science each branch church 
shall be distinctly democratic in its government, and no 
individual, and no other church shall interfere with its 
affairs," after every trace and tincture of democracy has 
been wiped and washed out of this "Manual." The 
branch churches, however, with their readers are not out 
of the control of The Mother Church and the omnipresent 
and omnipotent "Pastor Emeritus"; for it takes at least 
sixteen members to organize a branch church, "four of 
whom are members of The Mother Church," and every 
reader in a branch church must be a member of The 
Mother Church, and this provision puts all these members 
and readers in Mrs. Eddy's power; for by Article XI 
"upon her complaint" the Board of Directors must "drop 



198 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

forever" any member who works against ' Vhat she under- 
stands is advantageous to this Church and to the Cause of 
Christian Science/' By this long arm Mrs. Eddy could 
reach across the continent and around the world and 
remove any reader in any branch church. 

This provision by which the branch churches must have 
members and readers who are also members of The Mother 
Church is the centralizing agency and long and pow^erful 
arm and hand by which the branch churches are kept under 
control of the directors and pastor emeritus. This su- 
preme and sacrosanct sovereignty of The Mother Church is 
the reason why no branch church can use the article 
"The" in its title. "In its relation to other Christian 
Science churches, in its By-Laws and self-government. The 
Mother Church stands alone; it occupies a position that 
no other church can fill. Then for a branch church to 
assume such a position would be disastrous to Christian 
Science. Therefore, no Church of Christ, Scientist, 
shall be considered loyal that has branch churches or 
adopts The Mother Church's form of government, except 
in such cases as are specially allowed and named in this 
Manual." These special "cases" are the apron strings 
by which the branch churches are kept closely tied to 
and under the control of "The Mother Church." 

In addition to the Board of Directors, there is a "Board 
of Trustees," whose appointment is "subject to the ap- 
proval of the Pastor Emeritus," who "hold and manage 
the property conveyed" in Mrs. Eddy's Deed of Trust 
of 1898, "and conduct the business of *The Christian 
Science Publishing Society' on a strictly Christian basis, 
for the promotion of the interests of Christian Science." 
"The Christian Science Board of Directors shall have 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 199 

the power to declare vacancies in said trusteeship, for 
such reasons as to the Board may seem expedient," only 
as to any vacancy ''the Pastor Emeritus reserves the 
right to fill the same by appointment." This relation be- 
tween the two boards has resulted in the lawsuit between 
them, which is threatening to disrupt the Christian Science 
organization to which reference has already been made.i 
Mrs. Eddy has taken the utmost precaution and pains 
to control, not only the literature of her church, but 
even what her followers shall buy and read and even 
what bookstores they shall patronize. Article VIII 
enjoins: "A member of this Church shall neither buy, 
sell, nor circulate Christian Science literature which is 
not correct in its statement of the divine Principle and 
rules and the demonstration of Christian Science. . . A 
departure from the spirit or letter of this By-law involves 
schisms in our Church and the possible loss, for a time, 
of Christian Science. . . A member of this Church 
shall not patronize a publishing house or bookstore that 
has for sale obnoxious books." This is a rigid censorship 
over what Christian Scientists shall buy and read and even 
what bookstores they shall enter that surpasses that of 
the "Index Librorum Prohibitorum" or of any other 
religious censorship in the world. Mrs. Josephine C. 
Woodbury, one of her associates for many years, says 
that Mrs. Eddy "bids her followers abjure books, papers, 
magazines, or anything literary except the Bible and her 
own book."2 This reveals the fear she had of modern 

1 Pp. 186 —188. 

2 Arena for May, 1899. For a still more zealous "war against 
heresy" that was "carried on too zealously at last/* see Milmine, 
History, p. 362. "The Journal also instructed Mrs. Eddy*s loyal 
students to burn all forbidden literature." 



200 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

learning and light, and this fear was well-grounded, for 
our whole system of education from the kindergarten 
to the university and all our science and literature and 
all the libraries in the world are in direct contradiction 
to her teaching. Christian Science tries as far as possible 
to keep its followers immune from the world's literature 
and to supply them with its own literature, even to a daily 
newspaper. 

All the editors and managers of the Publishing Society 
are elected "by a unanimous vote, and the consent of the 
Pastor Emeritus given in her own handwriting." This 
strangle hold of her own consent on the control of her 
Publishing Society is drawn still tighter so as to include 
in her grip the humblest janitor or office boy in Article 
XXV, which provides: "A person who is not accepted by 
the Pastor Emeritus as suitable, shall in no manner be 
connected with publishing her books, nor with editing 
or publishing The Christian Science Journal, Christian 
Science Sentinel, Der Herold der Christian Science, nor 
with The Christian Science Publishing Society." 

There is "'a Board of Education, under the auspices of 
Mary Baker Eddy, President of the Massachusetts 
Metaphysical College, consisting of three members, a 
president, vice-president, and teacher of Christian Science. 
Obstetrics will not be taught." The enforcement of the 
law following disastrous cases of malpractice put this 
last provision in this Manual. "The teacher shall be 
elected every third year," "subject to the approval 
of the Pastor Emeritus." 

There is further "a Board of Lectureship, the members 
of which shall be elected, . . subject to the approval 
of the Pastor Emeritus." Until 1898 any Christian 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 201 

Scientist could give public lectures on Christian Science, 
but this privilege and duty was then restricted to lecturers 
duly appointed with Mrs. Eddy's approval. ''It is the 
duty of the Board of Lectureship to include in each lectin-e 
a true and just reply to public topics condemning Christian 
Science, and to bear testimony to the facts pertaining to 
the life of the Pastor Emeritus. Each member shall 
mail to the clerk of this church copies of his lectures 
before delivering them." These lecturers are able men, 
gifted and trained in the art of rhetoric and elocution, 
and are paid very large salaries, but it will be noticed 
that they are not trusted to say a word without submitting 
it to the clerk of The Mother Church who is under Mrs. 
Eddy's eye and control. The writer has listened to these 
lecturers with much interest and no little amusement as 
he has heard them smoothing over the absurd and ab- 
horrent things in Christian Science with discreet silence 
and plausible speech and especially as they bore ''testi- 
mony to the facts pertaining to the life of the Pastor 
Emeritus," when their "facts" were so carefully selected 
and subjectively colored and there are so many undoubted 
facts to which they did not bear testimony. If Article 
XXXI of their Manual is enforced, no newspaper reporter 
or war correspondent was ever more carefully and ruth- 
lessly censored than are these lecturers. 

There is a Committee on Publication "which shall 
consist of one loyal Christian Scientist who lives in Boston, 
and he shall be manager of the Committees on Pubhcation 
throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britian 
and Ireland. He shall be elected annually by a unan- 
imous vote of the Christian Science Board of Directors 
and the consent of the Pastor Emeritus." "It shall 



202 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

be the duty of the Committee on PubHcation to correct 
in a Christian manner impositions on the pubHc in regard 
to Christian Science, injustices done Mrs. Eddy or mem- 
bers of this Church by the daily press." Arrangements 
are made for appointing a similar Committee on Pub- 
lication in each State, Mrs. Eddy having the right to name 
the candidate for the office. "Or if she shall send a special 
request to any Committee on Publication, the request 
shall be carried out according to her direction." Prac- 
tically every newspaper and periodical is kept under the 
surveillance of this Committee, and when an article 
reflecting on Christian Science, especially if it contains 
"injustices done Mrs. Eddy," appears in a paper, the 
editor of it quickly receives a reply or a visit from the 
"Committee" and is pestered to "correct" the "im- 
position." The author has had a large experience in 
this matter. 

Although the election of each officer, trustee, president, 
clerk, treasurer, reader, editor, lecturer, manager, and 
employee is subject to the consent of Mrs. Eddy in the 
proper article, yet to make assurance doubly sure there 
is a blanket provision in Article XXII, Section 3, which 
declares that "It shall be the duty of the officers of this 
Church" and of the editors and members of various 
boards "promptly to comply with any written order, 
signed by Mary Baker Eddy, which applies to their 
official functions. Disobedience to this By-Law shall 
be sufficient cause for removal of the offending member 
from office." Any vacancy thus caused "shall be supplied 
by a majority vote of the Christian Science Board of 
Directors, and the candidate shall be subject to the 
approval of Mary Baker Eddy." Thus a Damocles 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 203 

sword, "suspended by a single hair," hangs over the head 
of every officer, editor, member of the Committees on 
Publication, trustee of the Publishing Society, or of 
the Board of Education of the Christian Science Church, 
and at the signal of the pastor emeritus the hair is severed. 
All of these provisions, depending on the personal consent 
**in her own handwriting" of Mrs. Eddy, ended, of course, 
with her life. The supreme authority of the Christian 
Science Church now rests in or between the two Boards 
of Directors and of Trustees, and they are now fighting 
out the question of which is supreme between themselves. 

The members of The Mother Church have no voice 
in its aflFairs. "The regular meetings of The Mother 
Church shall be held annually, on Monday following 
the first Sunday of June. No other than its officers are 
required to be present. These assemblies shall be for 
listening to the reports of Treasurer, Clerk, and Com- 
mittees, and general reports from the field." The business 
of the meeting appears to be confined to "listening." 
The clerk can call a special meeting, but he must inform 
the directors and pastor emeritus of its piu'pose and 
have their consent before calling it. 

It is not easy to become a member of The Mother 
Church. A complicated process of application and in- 
dorsement must be passed through, and the blanks to 
be filled out look like an application for life insurance. 
There is only one way of getting in, but there are thirteen 
ways of getting out by excommunication. 

One of the strictest requirements in the Manual relates 
to annoimcing the name and author of "Science and 
Health" in the Christian Science service. Like some 
other important points, it is repeated several times and 



204 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

appears near the beginning, the middle, and the end of 
the book. Article I enjoins that "The Readers of 'Science 
and Health with Key to the Scriptures' before commencing 
to read from this book, shall distinctly announce the full 
title of the book and give the author's name. Such 
announcement shall be made but once during each lesson." 
This requirement is extended to all of Mrs. Eddy's books 
and reasons given for it in Article XV as follows: "To 
pour into the ears of listeners the sacred revelations of 
Christian Science indiscriminately, or without character- 
izing their origin and thus distinguishing them from the 
writings of authors who think at random on this subject, 
is to lose some weight in the scale of right thinking. 
Therefore it is the duty of every member of this Church, 
when publicly reading or quoting from the books or poems 
of our Pastor Emeritus, first to announce the name of 
the author. Members shall also instruct their pupils to 
adopt the aforenamed method for the benefit of the 
Cause." The mass of confused and muddy stuff in 
''Science and Health," which we have already waded 
through, is thus characterized as "sacred revelations"; 
and for Mrs. Eddy to speak with an air of lofty condescen- 
sion of "the writings of authors who think at random" 
and of losing "some weight in the right scale of thinking," 
is a delicious instance of her utter lack, not only of a 
proper literary and logical sense, but also of a sense of 
humor. 

Prayer in the Christian Science service is limited to 
silent prayer and The Lord's Prayer with Mrs. Eddy's 
interpretation, but in Article VII we read this peculiar pro- 
vision: "The prayers in Christian Science churches shall 
be offered for the congregations collectively arid ex* 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 205 

clusively.'* Does this mean that Christian Scientists 
pray only for those found in Christian Science congre- 
gations? 

Sunday-school scholars shall not "remain in the Sunday 
school of any Church of Christ, Scientist, after reaching 
the age of twenty," and they '*shall be taught the Scrip- 
tures, and they shall be instructed according to their under- 
standing or ability to grasp the simpler meanings of the 
divine Principle that they are taught." "The instruction 
given by the children's teachers must not deviate from 
the absolute Christian Science contained in their text- 
book." This means that children are taught perverted 
and often absurd interpretations of Scripture from Genesis 
to Revelation. 

Abundant warnings against mental malpractice and 
heresy are scattered through the Manual. "It shall be 
the duty of every member of this Church to defend 
himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion." 
"Members will not intentionally or knowlingly mentally 
malpractice." "If a member of this Church shall depart 
from the Tenets . . . the offender's case shall be tried 
and said member exonerated, put on probation, or ex- 
communicated." The Board of Directors, no other 
persons being present, "has power to discipline, place on 
probation, remove from membership, or to excommunicate 
members of The Mother Church." As we have already 
noted, there are thirteen offenses which may be punished 
with excommunication, some of them very trivial, such 
as annoying Mrs. Eddy. 

A peculiar provision that probably arose out of ex- 
perience is that "If the Clerk of this Church shall receive 
a communication from the Pastor Emeritus which he 






206 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

does not fully understand, he shall inform her of this 
fact before presenting it to the Church and obtain a clear 
imderstanding of the matter — then act in accordance 
therewith/' If at a meeting of the church doubt or 
disagreement arises *'as to the signification of the communi- 
cations of the Pastor Emeritus to them, before action is 
taken it shall be the duty of the Clerk to report to her 
the vexed question and to await her explanation thereof." 

^l No doubt many a "vexed question'' had to be referred 

^ back to her for elucidation. 

Another peculiar provision is that "Christian Scientists 

S^ shall not report for publication the number of members 
of The Mother Church, nor that of branch churches. 

y According to the Scripture they shall turn away from 
personality and numbering the people." They shall 
turn away from every "personality" except one, and that 
pervades this book from cover to cover. In accordance 
with this same provision as to undue emphasis upon 
"personality" is the provision that "As a rule there should 
be no receptions nor festivities after a lecture on Christian 
Science." Every care seems to be taken that no "per- 
sonality" shall ever loom up into conspicuous comparison 
with the pastor emeritus. 

Article XXXV, the last article in this precious book, is 
devoted exclusively to the Manual and fastens it on The 
Mother Church without the possibility of amendment 
forever. Section 1 states that "It stands alone, uniquely 
adapted to form the budding thought and hedge it about 
with divine Love. This Manual shall not be revised 
without the written consent of its author." Section 2 
says that the members of the Board of Directors, Com- 
mittee on Bible Lessons, and Board of Trustees "shall 



4; 



i 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 207 

each keep a copy of the Seventy-third Edition and of 
subsequent editions of the Church Manual.'* And 
Section 3 and the last word in the book declares that 
*'No Tenet or By-Law shall be adopted, nor any Tenet 
or By-Law amended or annulled, without the written 
consent of Mary Baker Eddy, the author of our text- 
book, 'Science and Health'." Now that she is gone, 
there is no power on earth that can give this "written 
consent," and these by-laws stand unchangeable and 
inviolate to the end of time, or to the end of The Mother 
Church. She affected to believe that she was legis- 
lating "for the race," and left no room for any son or 
daughter of Adam to tamper with her work. Not even 
an angel from heaven could change a syllable of it. This 
is the "dead hand" raised to the highest power, and it 
can never be relaxed. Boston culture may breed skepti- 
cism and doubt of the finality of some of these "Tenets," 
emergencies may arise in some far distant year that 
would call for revision of some of these "By-Laws," 
Boards of Directors and Trustees may grow angry and 
furious with these iron-bound fetters, the right of private 
judgment and the spirit of American democracy might 
be born in the minds and souls of the members and officers 
of this Church and rebel fiercely against these bonds, 
but all their doubts and difficulties would beat against 
the fixed and final prison bars of this Manual in vain. 

The Moving Finger writes; and having writ. 
Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 

This is the way the matter stands as left by Mrs. Eddy. 
We have little doubt that since her death the officers 



208 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

of this church do find some tolerable way of meeting 
emergencies and getting along. But in so far as they 
disregard any syllable of the Manual they defy her author- 
ity; and their organization is still a highly centralized, 
self -perpetuating, despotic autocracy and secret conclave 
from which the members of the church are absolutely 
excluded and against the injustices of which they have 
not the slightest redress. 

What is the practical working of this autocratic system? 
Does the American spirit of democracy and justice never 
arise in Christian Scientists and rebel against it? It 
certainly does. There is much evidence and many cases 
to show that the system is attended with a great deal 
of unrest and strife and bitterness, at times breaking into 
open defiance and rebellion, to be promptly followed by 
excommunication. The various early secessions from 
Mrs. Eddy sprang from this spirit of revolt against her 
autocracy. The celebrated case of Mrs. Stetson in New 
York throws a fierce searchlight into the working of the 
system, and she herself uttered this warning: 



Adherents to the scientific conception of Christian Truth, as rep- 
resented in branch churches throughout the world, should he made 
aware of the peril which we are persuaded has come to the Cause 
through the overriding of spiritual freedom by ecclesiastical self- 
assertion tending to stamp out a conviction of Truth as enduring 
as the consciousness of man's oneness with God.^ 



A more recent case of this kind occurred in the First 
Church of Christ, Scientist, of St. Louis, of which Mr. 
and Mrs. Leon Greenbaum were members and oflScers. 
They revolted against the despotism of the Manual as 

1 Vital Issues in Christian Science, p. 3. 



I 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 209 

administered by The Mother Church in Boston and quickly 
had their names removed from its roll and from member- 
ship in the St. Louis church. Mr. Greenbaum wrote to 
the Boston authorities: "The despotic interpretation and 
appHcation of the Church Manual ... is the invisible 
root cause of the fratricidal strife in The Mother Church 
and its offspring (the branch churches) here and else- 
where." The whole case is set forth in Mr. Greenbaum's 
book and he affirms that the same trouble is causing 
strife '*elsewhere."l 

We must not, however, attach much significance to 
these dissensions as a means of undermining Christian 
Science, for all churches have been subject to strife and 
division. The Christian Science Church has more to 
fear from the peaceful penetration of the light and logic 
of truth as it gently and imperceptibly permeates its 
members. The blow of a hammer can shatter ice into 
a thousand pieces, but every piece is still ice. Only 
sunshine can melt it into sweet water. 

4. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH SERVICE 

Did the reader ever attend a Christian Science church 
service? The author would not recommend it as a regular 
and permanent means of grace, but he has attended such 
services in pursuance of this study. He did not go in 
any spirit of disrespect, much less of ridicule, for he 
would not in such a spirit enter a Mohammedan mosque 
or a Chinese pagoda. He doubts not that God is in a 
Christian Science service, for he is in all places and has 
some blessing for every sincere worshipper, Christian or 

1 Follow Christ 



210 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

pagan, however mistaken and blinded such worshipper 
may be. 

On entering a Christian Science church one is quickly 
impressed with the air of quietness and reverence in the 
place. The people enter noiselessly and sit in silence, 
and late comers, entering while some exercise is going 
on, are shown to a rear seat until there is a proper place 
in the service for them to go forward. The Christian 
Scientists emphasize the value of silence and meditation 
and practice these exercises more than most other people. 
At their headquarters in each city they have a '^Silent 
Room'* where anyone can enter and sit in silence and read 
Christian Science literature or engage in meditation. We 
are in danger of losing these fine means of grace in this 
noisy, hurrying age, and the followers of this faith set 
us a good example in this respect. The congregation 
in a Christian Science church appears to be composed 
of well-to-do people, and it is known that nearly all 
of them have come out of the orthodox churches, for 
Christian Science wins few converts out of what is known 
as ''the world." Some of these members from orthodox 
churches, however, having made trial of Christian Science, 
have returned to their former faith and fellowship. 

The "Order of Service, '* consisting of fourteen exercises, 
was arranged by Mrs. Eddy herself and is part of the 
inviolable legacy she left in the Manual. This order 
with its readings for each Sunday is binding on The 
Mother Church and all branch churches the world around, 
and the service held in the morning is exactly repeated in 
the evening. There is a very similar order for the Wednes- 
day evening meeting and also for the Sunday school, and 
there is a slightly different order for Thanksgiving Day 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 211 

and another for the "communion services In the branch 
churches," the communion service having been aboUshed 
by Mrs. Eddy in The Mother Church. The ordinance 
of communion itself, if such it may be called, consists 
merely in kneeling "in silent communion," "concluded 
by the audible repetition of The Lord's Prayer." 

The references to the readings from the Scriptures 
and "Science and Health" are selected for three months 
and published in The Christian Science Quarterly. These 
selections constitute the sermon for the services and must 
be used in all Christian Science churches. 

The first order of exercise is the singing of a hymn, 
the singing being accompanied by an organ and led by a 
soloist who is usually a good singer. Christian Scientists 
as a class are people of sensitive nerves if not of esthetic 
sensibilities, and everything about their church buildings 
and services is artistic and "done decently and in order," 
except the literary style of the readings from * 'Science 
and Health" and the "poetry" of some of their hymns. 
The Christian Scientists are wealthy, and whatever 
money can buy they can have; but there are some things 
money cannot buy. 

The Christian Science hymn book is a literary curiosity. 
The classical psalms and hymns of Christianity, in their 
lofty aspiration and nobility of thought and beauty of 
literary expression, are one of its most precious fruits and 
proofs, and any religion can be judged by its hymns. 
Tried by this test. Christian Science fares badly. It has 
few hymns of its own production, and these fall painfully 
below the level of Christian hymns. In the Christian 
Science hymn book there are five hymns by Mrs. Eddy, 
but their quality is poor, both in poverty of thought and 



gl2 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

commonplace, unpoetic expression. Dr. T. G. Moulton 
characterizes these hymns as "the dreariest doggerel 
sung to noble tunes. "^ The tunes, of course, are ap- 
propriated along with the hymns, for Christian Science 
appears to be as barren of musical genius as of literary 
taste. 

Having few of its own, Christian Science has boldly 
laid hands on many of our classical hymns, prostituting 
them to a sense and use which their authors would have 
abhorred. It is unjust to the memory of Watts and 
Wesley and Whittier, Toplady and Newman and other 
honored hymn writers, to drag them into the company of 
Mrs. Eddy and force them unwittingly to serve at her 
strange altar. 

It is admitted in the Preface to this book that these 
hymns do not properly express Christian Science ideas, 
which, of course, they were never meant to and cannot 
honestly be made to do, and so they are put through a 
process of adaptation, which is often a surgical operation 
of sad mutilation and sometimes of grotesque perversion. 
The hymns are also usually abridged to two or three or 
at the most to four or five verses, and this abbreviation 
is not altogether a fault as it helps to shorten the service. 
In fact, brevity is a virtue of the whole service, for 
Christian Scientists are always sensitive to their own 
comfort and are careful to avoid fatigue, although, of 
course, there is no such thing and it is only a form of the 
"nothingness** of "mortal mind.** 

As an example of the way in which Christian Scientists 
tamper with our Christian hymns we give Toplady's 
"Rock of Ages'* as it appears in their hymn book: 

'^ An Exposure of Christian Science, p. 17. 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 213 

Rock of Ages, Truth, Divine, 
Be Thy strength forever mine; 
Let me rest secure in Thee, 
Safe above life's raging sea. 

Rock of Truth, our fortress strong. 
Refuge from the shafts of wrong. 
When from foes of sense I flee. 
Let me hide myself in Thee. 

Truth of Christ, asylum sure. 
On this rock we are secure; 
Cure is there for every ill. 
Peace is there our life to fill. 

This is only a parody and a very poor one at that 
on one of the noblest hymns in the English language, 
and everyone with any poetic sense must feel the outrage 
it commits. We devoutly wish that the Christian Scien- 
tists would keep their hands off our Christian hymns 
and prayers and write their own. 

The second order of the service is **Reading a Scriptural 
Selection," which is read by the First Reader. 

The third order is ''Silent Prayer, followed by the audible 
repetition of The Lord's Prayer with its spiritual inter- 
pretation." No audible prayer is offered in the service, 
with the exception noted, for Mrs. Eddy condemned 
such prayer, as has already been seen, and, indeed, cut 
up the real roots of all prayer by declaring that *'God is 
not influenced by man." We would suppose that silent 
prayer is subject to the same limitation. 

The readers alternately render the petitions of the 
prayer and its interpretation. The Manual provides that 
these readers shall be *'a man and a woman" and they are 
to be "exemplary Christians and good English scholars." 
The author does not know about their English scholar- 
ship and can only hope that it is better than that of 



214 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Mrs. Eddy herself, but lie can testify that as many of 
them as he has heard are good readers, rendering the text 
with admirable voice and modulation, distinctness and 
purity of tone, so that their reading is beautiful elo- 
cution; and in this fine art they are models for all 
preachers and readers. 

The Second Reader, who is the woman, reads each 
petition of The Lord's Prayer, and then the First Reader 
reads "its spiritual interpretation/' Formerly this order 
of the readers was the reverse, but Mrs. Eddy changed 
it to the present order and thereby seems to have indicated 
her estimate of the relative values or importance of the 
two forms. The Manual says that "It shall be the duty 
of the First Reader to conduct the principal part of the 
Sunday services." This "spiritual interpretation," has 
already been given^ which at first had a very different 
form, but like Mrs. Eddy's book was subject to any degree 
of change and finally was given its present shape. Of 
all the offenses of "the Founder" and the followers of 
Christian Science this is the worst, unless it be her travesty 
of a "communion service." It perverts the prayer at 
every point and is an exegetical and literary outrage which 
justly excites the indignation of Christians the world 
over. That this illiterate and uncultivated and morbidly 
egotistical and madly presumptuous woman should dare 
to lay her vandal hands on these simple and noble words 
that fell from the lips of our Lord and that in their lofty 
devotion and literary beauty are one of the most sacred and 
precious treasures of the world in every land and language 
is a shame that Christian Scientists should blush to rec- 
ognize and honor in their services. 

1 P. 104. 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 215 

The fifth order is another hymn, and then follows 
"Announcing necessary notices/' The emphasis falls 
on the word "necessary" in this notice, for the Manual 
orders that tlie readers "shall make no remarks explanatory 
of the Lesson sermon at any time, but they shall read all 
notices and remarks that may be printed in the Christian 
Science Quarterly." Mrs. Eddy was always extraordinarily 
watchful and suspicious of every word spoken or written 
by anybody except herself. Hence outside of the local 
notices expressed in the fewest words there is not a word 
said in a Christian Science service except what has been 
dictated and printed for the readers. If one of them were 
to offer a word of extempore prayer or of comment on the 
"Lesson sermon," it would shock the congregation as 
an unheard-of, forbidden, and scandalous thing. It is 
remarkable to what extent Mrs. Eddy, being dead, yet 
speaks. 

The sixth order is a "solo." "The solo singer," says 
the Manual "shall not neglect to sing any special hymn 
selected by the Board of Directors." "The Board of 
Directors" is, or was, Mrs. Eddy. 

The seventh order is "Reading the explanatory note 
on first leaf of quarterly." This note reads as follows: 

Friends. — The Bible and the Christian Science textbook are our 
only preachers. We shall now read Scriptural texts, and their cor- 
relative passages from our denominational textbook — these comprise 
our sermon. The canonical writings, together with the word of our 
textbook, corroborating and explaining the Bible texts in their 
spiritual import and application to all ages, past, present, and 
future, constitute a sermon undivorced from truth, uncontaminated 
and unfettered by human hypotheses, and divinely authorized. 

The eighth order is ** Announcing the subject of the 
Lesson-Sermon, and reading the Golden Text." 



216 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

The ninth order is "Reading the Scriptural selection, 
entitled 'Responsive Reading/ alternately by the First 
Reader and the congregation." This responsive reading 
is printed in the quarterly. 

The tenth order is "Reading the Lesson-Sermon. 
(After the Second Reader reads the Bible references of 
the first Section of the Lesson, the First Reader makes 
the following announcement: 'As announced in the ex- 
planatory note, I shall now read correlative passages from 
the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with 
Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy/)" 

The lesson sermon for January 4, 1920, consisted of 
six groups of selections, arranged in parallel columns, 
the Bible references on the left side and the references to 
"Science and Health" on the right side of the page. One 
or two of these selections will illustrate the appositeness 
of the "correlative passages." One Scripture reference 
is II Sam. 23:1-4, which reads as follows: 



Now these are the last words of David. 

David the son of Jesse saith. 

And the man who was raised on high saith. 

The anointed of the God of Jacob, 

And the sweet psalmist of Israel: 

The spirit of Jehovah spake by me. 

And his word was upon my tongue. 

The God of Israel said. 

The Rock of Israel spake to me: 

One that ruleth over men righteously, 

That ruleth in the fear of God, 

He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun 

riseth, 
A morning without clouds. 

When the tender grass springeth out of the earth. 
Through clear shining after rain. 



The "correlative passage" set over against this is 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 217 

"Science and Health," p. 469, lines 13-21, which reads 
as follows: 

Mind is God. The exterminator of error is the great truth that 
God, good, is the only Mind, and that the supposititious opposite of 
infinite Mind — called devil or evil — is not Mind, is not Truth, but 
error, without intelligence or reality. There can be but one Mind, 
because there is but one God; and if mortals claimed no other Mind 
and accepted no other, sin would be unknown. We can have but 
one Mind, if that one is infinite. We bury the sense of infinitude, 
when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a place in 
this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all space is filled with 
God. 

A Scripture passage from the New Testament is Acts 
17:24-27, which reads as follows: 

The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being 
Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, 
as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all life, 
and breath, and all things; and he made of one every nation of men 
to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their ap- 
pointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should 
seek God, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he 
is not far from each one of us. 

The "correlative passage" from "Science and Health" 
is p. 542, beginning with line 29 and is as follows: 

The sinful misconception of Life as something less than God, 
having no truth to support it, falls back upon itself. This error, 
after reaching the climax of suffering, yields to Truth and returns 
to dust; but it is only mortal man and not the real man, who dies. 
The image of Spirit cannot be effaced, since it is the idea of Truth 
and changes not, but becomes more beautifully apparent at error's 
demise. 

These are the kind of "correlative passages" which are 
indicated in the forty pages of this quarterly for the first 
three months of the year 1920. Has the reader detected 
the slightest connection between the Scripture passages 



218 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

and the "correlative passages'' that give their "spiritual 
import and appHcation to all ages, past, present, and 
future"? Would not selections from a Patent OflBce 
Report or from "Mother Goose" have as much relation 
to these verses of Scripture as these "correlative passages"? 
Does it not show a woeful lack of logical sense and literary 
taste and is it not sacrilegious to put such confused and 
inane thought and tawdry rhetoric as these selections 
from Mrs. Eddy's book in comparison with these noble 
and beautiful passages of Scripture ? One can only wonder 
at the education and culture of the people who week after 
week sit and listen to this "Lesson-Sermon." 

The eleventh order is a "collection." This collection 
is for their own support, as the Christian Scientists do 
not maintain hospitals or schools or carry on any charitable 
or philanthropic work.l It would not be logical for them 
to do anything that would recognize disease or poverty 
or any physical condition as a reality. The cry of the 
poor and the suffering does not reach them for their cure 
for these things is to deny and forget them. 

The twelfth order is a hymn, and then while the people 
are standing follows the thirteenth order which is "Reading 
*The scientific statement of being,' and the correlative 
Scripture according to I John 3:1-3." This "scientific 
statement of being" is the following: 

There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. 
All is infinite Mind, and its infinite manifestation, for God is all 
in all. Spirit is immortal Truth, matter is mortal error. Spirit is 
real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, 
and man is His image and likeness; hence man is spiritual and not 
material. 

^ "The Christian Science Benevolent Association," for the benefit 
of its own members was opened by The Mother Church in Boston 
in October, 1919. 



(p- 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 219 

During the whole service one idea and utterance is 
being constantly dingdonged into the ear, in one or another 
form: "There is no matter/* "matter is nothing/' "all 
is Mind." It becomes as monotonous to the ear and as 
deadening to the interest of the mind as the continual 
sawing on one string of a violin or as the constant dropping 
of water. After all this iteration and reiteration for 
possibly the hundredth time comes this final "scientific 
statement of being" in which the eternal assertion that 
"matter is mortal error" is emphasized one more time, 
or rather half a dozen times more. The last order is 
"Pronouncing the Benediction," which consists of a verse 
of Scripture. 

Then, with the echo ringing in our ears that "matter 
is mortal error" we escape into God's out of doors and 
rejoice with exceeding joy that we are back again in the 
world of reality with its green grass and blue sky and 
singing birds and shining sun and healthful food and drink 
and work and rest, of the faces of our friends and the play 
of children, in God's world of common sense. 

5. WHAT IS THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH? 

When one sees the large and costly churches Christian 
Scientists have erected in many of our cities, the im- 
pression is received that they are a large and wealthy 
body; and it would be a mistake to think that they are a 
feeble folk, although few of the influential people of a city 
are found among them. When we endeavor, however, to 
find out their real number, we are blocked. The author 
personally applied to a high Christian Science official for the 
facts on this point and was told that they were not giving 
out such information and that he himself did not know. 



220 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

In the federal census of 1890 the Christian Scientists 
reported 221 churches and 8724 members, an average of 
40 members to each church. In the census of 1906, the 
next census that gathered statistics of the churches, they 
reported 82,332 members and 16,116 Sunday-school 
scholars. 1 This is an astonishing rate of growth, being 
tenfold or 1000 per cent in 16 years. This was the fruitful 
springtime and youthful heyday of Christian Science. 

But after the census report of 1906 something happened. 
Up to and including this census the Christian Scientists 
made their reports along with all other churches, but 
after the 1906 census they stopped making such reports 
and have ever since refused to make any, or give out any 
information as to their numbers. Mrs. Eddy wrote 
this sudden and peculiar change of policy into her Manual 
in Article VIII, Section 28, which reads as follows: 

Numbering the People. Section 28. Christian Scientists shall 
not report for publication the number of the members of The Mother 
Church, nor that of the branch churches. According to Scripture 
they shall turn away from personality and numbering the people. 

Why was this by-law adopted and why does not the 
Christian Science Church give out its statistics like other 
churches? The reason given is that Christian Scientists 
"according to Scripture shall turn away from personality 
and numbering the people,'* but this sounds insincere. 
Why, then, did they give out statistics up to 1906? Was 
not this "personality'* and "numbering the people"? 
Mrs. Eddy was not averse to "personality" when it was 
her own personality, and she appears to have taken satis- 

^ These figures are taken from Dr. H. K. Carroll's Religious 
Forces of the United States, revised edition of 1912. He does not 
give the number of Christian Science churches for 1906. 



I 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 221 

faction in "numbering the people" as long as her people 
were increasing. This change of policy creates the 
suspicion that the rapid rate of increase that was so 
marked up to 1906 soon thereafter began to slow down 
and approach a standstill, and that it was this fact that 
stopped the publication of "numbering the people.'* Dr. 
Carroll, who is our highest authority on religious statistics, 
in a personal communication to the author gives it as his 
opinion that decrease in growth was the real reason for this 
change, and they refused to make a report to the federal 
religious census of 1916. 

But though Christian Scientists will not tell, yet there 
is a way of making a fairly accurate estimate of their 
numbers. They do officially publish in the Journal one 
important basis of calculation and that is a complete list of 
all their churches and societies in the world. The author 
has made a careful count of these lists in two issues of the 
Journal sixteen months apart. In the issue of August, 
1918, there is a total of 1576 organizations, 1386 in the 
United States and 190 in foreign countries. Of these 
organizations in the United States 789 are churches and 
597 are societies, a society being a group not yet incor- 
porated into a church. Of the organizations in foreign 
countries 89 are churches and 101 are societies. In the 
issue of December, 1919, there is a total of 1702 organi- 
zations, 1504 in the United States and 198 in foreign 
countries. In the United States there are 840 churches 
and 664 societies, and in foreign countries there are 122 
churches and 76 societies. During the sixteen months 
between these two issues the total number of organizations 
increased eight per cent, the churches in the United States 
increased six and one-half per cent, and the societies 



222 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

eleven per cent. This is a tremendous falling off in the 
rate of increase from the 1000 per cent increase between 
the censuses of 1890 and 1906. If this rate had been 
maintained during the 16 months the increase would have 
been 83 instead of 8 per cent. We are well aware that 
the growth of a body slows down as it grows older and 
larger, but this falling off is ominously large and rapid. 

On the basis of the number of churches and societies 
can we estimate the present membership of the Christian 
Science church .^^ What is the average membership of the 
962 churches in the world .^ Of course some of them have 
a large membership running up toward a thousand. 
The Mother Church, according to the secretary's report 
in June, 1907, had 43,876, but many of these were also 
members of the branch churches. Many Christian 
Science churches are very small; many of them do not 
have church buildings, but meet in halls or other rented 
places. We would think that an average membership of 
100 each would not be far wrong, and this, would yield 
96,200 members. There are also 740 societies, ^nd as 
these are mostly small unincorporated groups of people 
we would suppose they do not average above 25 members 
each, and this would give 18,500 members: a total for the 
world of 114,700 Christian Scientists. If this number is 
seriously wrong, only the Christian Science officials are 
to blame for it. Let them come out with their statistics 
as other churches do. "He that doeth the truth cometh 
to the light." 

Such competent judges as Dr. H. K. Carroll and Dr. 
Horatio W. Dresser think that Christian Science has 
about reached its flood and that its tide will soon 
turn. 



CHAPTER IX 
MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 

Christian Science was at first purely a method of mental 
healing, as was indicated in the title of Mrs. Eddy's book 
**Science and Health" before she turned her system into 
a religion and added to her book the "Key to the Scrip- 
tures." Mental healing is still the stronghold of Christian 
Science, and we shall now examine this part of its claim 
and work. Our general attitude toward this feature of 
Mrs. Eddy's system is not that of wholesale denial but 
rather that of discrimination and explanation. 

1. MIND HEALING IN GENERAL 

The practical interaction of the soul and the body is 
one of the most familiar experiences of life. The soul 
expresses itself through the body. The mind utters its 
thought through language, feature, and movement. Joy 
wreathes the face in smiles, grief drenches it with tears, 
modesty dyes it with a crimson blush, and fear blanches 
it white. 

All the emotions of the heart paint themselves on the 
face. The will moves every voluntary muscle and nerve to 
do its work, and the unconscious mind pervades and 
animates the whole organism. The soul pours through the 
body, as the sap circulates in the tree and exudes in every 
leaf and blossom, and thus manifests its whole inner life. 
Not only the tongue speaks, but the eye is eloquent, 

223 



224 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

the flushed face is charged with meaning, and every 
feature blabs. So, also, the body acts upon the soul, 
exciting in it sensation and thought, stirring up its feeKngs, 
moving its will, causing it to leap with joy or cry out in 
pain, and thus flooding it with stimulating influences. 
Knowing how the soul and body are thus closely connected 
as causes or signs of each other's condition, from the state 
of the one we can infallibly infer the state of the other. 
From seeing the face we can tell the state of the soul, 
and from the state of the soul we can describe the features 
of the face. It is true that the ultimate nature of the 
relation of the soul and the body is unknown to us and 
is one of the unsolved problems and deepest mysteries 
of philosophy. 1 We may not know where the psychical 
leaves off and the physiological and the physical begin, 
or whether they are of diverse or of the same fundamental 
nature. But we do know that they powerfully affect each 
other. The mind under a great stroke of sorrow may 
whiten the hair and blast and wither the body in a single 
night, and a flood of great joy may revive and rejuvenate 
it, so that the body seems like wax in the flame of the 
mind. The ^'stigmata" of the saints, in which the mind 
burnt right through the body, are supported by weighty 
evidence. 2 "It is quite impossible," says a high authority. 
Dr. Albert Moll, "to assign any limit to the influence of the 
mind upon the body, which is probably much more potent 
and far-reaching than we are usually prepared to admit."^ 

1 For a discussion of this problem, see the author's The World a 
Spiritual System; an Outline of Metaphysics, pp. 116, 117, 226-233. 
See also H. R. Marshall's Mind and Conduct, pp. 215-230. 

2 See Carpenter's Mental Physiology, p. 689. 

3 Quoted by R. H. Hutton in his Aspects of Religious and Scientific 
Thought, p. 161. 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 225 

The mind thus masters matter, melts down its "too, 
too soHd flesh/' so to speak, and casts it in its own 
mold. 

The mind in some degree controls the body by its 
voluntary will as is the case in all our speech and behavior; 
and the voluntary will can go further and raise or depress 
the spirits, affect the action of the heart, and exert a 
pronounced influence over the general condition and health 
of the body. But the far greater and deeper control of 
the mind over the body is exercised by the subconscious 
mind, the unconscious deep in the soul which appears to 
be the greater and even vastly the greater part of its life. 
It is this "underground" region of the soul, which may be 
compared to the basement and cellar of a great building, 
in which are stored all our past thoughts and actions 
and out of which ancestral and racial instincts and per- 
sonal habits and memories and impulses emerge into our 
conscious life; and it is this unconscious mind that acts 
through the sympathetic nervous system to operate and 
control the organic activities of the body. This sub- 
consciousness is reached in hypnotism and by other forms 
and means of suggestion, and can thus be turned to exer- 
cise its influence and control over the body so as to affect 
its health in both causing and curing disease. 

The action of the mind on the body in connection with 
health and disease has been known and used from ancient 
times. In Proverbs, ch. 17:22 we read, "A cheerful 
heart is a good medicine." Celsus, a Roman medical 
writer of the first century, a. d., wrote, "It is the mark of 
a skilled practitioner to sit awhile by the bedside with a 
blithe countenance." And Cassiodorus, of the sixth 
century, wrote, "To give joy to the sick is natural healing; 



£26 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

for once make your patient cheerful, and his cure is 
accomplished.'* 

In modern times this agency in curing disease has come 
into wide use. An extensive literature has already grown 
up and is rapidly increasing in this field. Dr. A. T. 
Schofield, an English medical authority, has published 
seven or eight volumes on the subject, of which the one 
entitled *The Force of Mind; or. The Mental Factor in 
Medicine,'' is one of the best for lay readers. It is packed 
with facts and quotations from medical authorities and 
gives a list of more than a hundred books and articles on 
the subject. These authorities maintain that functional 
diseases can be cured or helped by mental means, and some 
of them admit that at least some organic diseases can be 
helped or cured by the same means. The two kinds of 
diseases run into each other so that no sharp line of dis- 
tinction can be drawn between them. Dr. Schofield 
quotes the English medical authority, Dr. Daniel Hack 
Tuke, as saying that "mental therapeutics without hypno- 
tism can cure toothache, sciatica, painful joints, rheuma- 
tism, gout, pleuro-dynia, colic, epilepsy, whooping cough, 
contracted limbs, paralysis, headaches, neuralgias, con- 
stipation, asthma, warts, scurvy, dropsy, intermittent 
fever, alcoholism, typhoid fever, and avert impending 
death." Other authorities, such as Dr. Weir Mitchell and 
Dr. Woods Hutchinson, regard such statements as ex- 
aggerations, but they all admit that the mind has a wide 
field and is a great power as a curative agent. At the 
least it is admitted that the depressed condition of 
the mind may lower the vitality and resisting power of the 
body to the point where it falls a prey to diseases of all 
kinds. 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 227 

It is not asserted that the mind can cure disease by a 
sheer act of will, though it can often do much and some- 
times work wonders in this way, but that the general 
state and action of the mind furnish the conditions in 
which disease may disappear and health be restored. 
Hypnotic suggestion, by which suggestions counter- 
acting disease are planted in the subconscious mind, plays 
an important part in the theory and practice of some 
mental healers; and however it may be got into the mind, 
the suggestion of health is undoubtedly a powerful antidote 
to disease. Since the mind under an overwhelming 
belief or emotion may strike right through the body as 
though it were a physical force, whitening the hair, 
raising blisters, causing blood to exude through the skin 
at particular points, there is no limit we may set to what it 
may do in resisting disease or even in killing its germs. 
No doubt excessive claims have been made, especially by 
faith healers and quacks, for the curative power of the 
mind in disease, but that it is a vital factor in the matter 
is emphasized by medical authorities and is receiving 
increased attention in all quarters. 

This power of the mind over the body is the root of all 
the various forms of mind healing and is the secret and 
stock in trade of numerous quacks that play on the 
credulity of people. Dr. Schofield enumerates eight 
kinds of mental healing as follows: 



1. There is the prayer and faith cure at Lourdes; wnich is based 
upon the faith in God and the Virgin, perhaps mostly on the latter. 
2. Relic cures of all sorts; where the basis is faith in the holy emblems, 
seen or touched. 3. Evangelical faith cures; based upon external 
divine power, 4. Mind cures; effected by the realization of the 
power of mind over matter, or by the conscious effect of the mind 
of the healer on the patient. 5. Christian Science cures; based on 



228 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

the unreality of disease, and the direction of the mind to the Divine. 
6. Spiritualistic cures; effected by faith in departed spirits. 7. 
Mesmeric cures; effected by a supposed fluid or magnetic influence 
passing from healer to patient. 8. Direct faith healing; effected by 
faith healers, in whom the patient has confidence and who heal on 
the spot.l 

The stories told of the manifold and marvelous cures 
effected by this general means are well known, and many- 
are the healers and healing resorts that can show a re- 
markable collection of crutches and other paraphernalia 
that have been left behind by those who were healed. 
John Alexander Dowie, once prominent as a faith healer 
in Chicago, had a large hall of which the walls were lined 
with such mementos and proofs of his healing power. 
That many of these cures are genuine is an undoubted 
fact, admitted by medical authorities themselves. The 
fact that many of them are also spurious does not touch 
the reality of the genuine ones. 

Physicians, it need not be said, understand this principle 
of healing and use it in their practice. The faith they 
inspire in their patients by their medicines and perhaps 
even more by their personality and reputation is a vital 
factor in their healing power. Many a physician by his 
contagious optimism begets a like spirit in his patient 
that has its effect in quickening the vital energies of the 
whole body. It is also well known that physicians give 
medicines, such as *'bread pills," which they know will 
have no other virtue than the power of arousing the 
faith and hope of the patient. 

It makes no difference what is the nature of the means 
by which such faith is excited, if it produces the faith it 
will do the work. On this account the fetish of the savage 

1 The Force of Mind, p. 202. 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 229 

and all the absurd arts and means of faith healers are 
effective. The following example is from George Barton 
Cutten's "Psychological Phenomena of Christianity'*: 

Let me refer to a monthly publication called Unity. The copy 
which I have in hand is that for February, 1906. One of the leaves 
of this publication is of red paper, and in addition to elaborate in- 
structions for its use given by the editor, the sheet has printed on 
it the following: *'This sheet has been treated by the Society of 
Silent Unity, after the manner mentioned in Acts 19: 11, 12. Dis- 
ease will depart from those who repeat silently, while holding this in 
hand, the words printed thereon.'* In addition to these instructions 
we find these words: "Affirmation for Strength and Power. February 
20th to March 20th. (Held Daily at 12 M.) The Strength and 
Power of Divine Mind are now established in the Midst of Me; and 
shall go no more out. Affirmation for Prosperity. (Held Daily at 
12 M.) The Riches of the Lord-Christ are poured out upon Me, 
and I am supplied with every good Thing." Near the end of the 
publication are some testimonials to the value of such suggestions. 
I choose three of them. "While holding the Red Leaf between my 
hands it caused vibrations through my whole system, and rheumatic 
pains that I was troubled with disappeared as if by magic — M. 
T. R." "Your Red Sheet of November, I used in treatment of my 
sister for appendicitis, and also for myself for sore throat. With 
the December one I treated myself for sore throat and bronchitis, 
with wonderful results in both and in all cases. — L. V. D.'* "Your 
treatments for prosperity have done us so much good, and we are 
feeling more prosperous, which will open the way to our receiving 
more. Since our treatments our chickens have laid better, the food 
goes further, and our whole living seems easier. — A. M. L." It is 
to be expected that so long as the chickens and people respond so 
readily to the most naive and crass forms of suggestion, there will 
always be found those willing to give the suggestions consideration.^ 

It will be recalled that Mrs. Eddy says in ^'Science and 
Health'' that persons have been healed while reading 
this book. "The perusal of the author's pubKcations 
heals sickness constantly." The thing is credible: the 
sheet does not always need to be red. 

While the power of the mind over the body in the 
healing of disease is freely admitted and used by medical 

1 Pp. 220, 221. 



230 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

authorities, yet they restrict it within more or less definite 
Umits. The distinction between functional and organic 
diseases, while more popular than scientific, yet is of 
practical use, and it is within the former field that mind 
healing does its best if not its only work. * 'Potent as is 
the influence of mind on body,*' says Sir William Osier, 
"and many as are the miracle-like cures which may be 
worked, all are in functional disorders, and we know only 
too well that nowadays the prayer of faith neither sets a 
broken thigh or checks an epidemic of typhoid fever."! 
Dr, Schofield says that "with the exception of mental and 
functional nerve diseases, the part the mental factor plays 
is exceedingly small, and often very obscure and ill de- 
fined,'* though "it may be a predisposing cause, and 
exciting cause, an aggravating or a modifying accompani- 
ment; it may act as a poison, or therapeutically as a 
medicine."^ When alleged cases of the healing of organic 
diseases by mental means are investigated, they are 
nearly always if not invariably found to be not based on 
fact; either the diagnosis was not correct or the cure was 
not effected.^ 

Among functional diseases also the failures to cure by 
mental means far outnumber the successful cases. As 
usual in such matters, the "hits" are remembered and 
exploited and the "misses" are forgotten. John Alexander 
Dowie in his newspaper, "Leaves of Healing," declared, 
"I pray and lay my hands on seventy thousand people in 
a year," yet in the two and a half years immediately 

1 Quoted by B. B. Warfield in Counterfeit Miracle^ p. 229. 

2 The Force of Mind, p. 69. 

^ The story of a typical celebrated case of this kind, involving the 
immediate healing of a broken bone, is told by Dr. J. M. Buckley 
in his Faith Healing, pp. 54, 55. 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 231 

preceding the date of this statement he reports only- 
seven hundred cures, which is only one success in. every 
two hundred and fifty trials. ^ Such meager results 
would ruin the reputation of any regular physician. 

2. HAVE MIRACULOUS CURES CEASED? 

At this point we are confronted with the question, Have 
the miraculous cures of the Bible, especially of Jesus, 
ceased? Christian Scientists and many other faith healers 
give an emphatic negative to this question, and declare 
that they are doing just what Jesus did and commanded 
his disciples to do. Mrs. Eddy is especially bold in 
flinging this challenge in the face of her opponents and 
she frequently quotes and appeals to the promise: "And 
these signs shall accompany them that believe; in my 
name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with 
new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they 
drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they 
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." 
But unfortunately for this contention this passage is 
found in the spurious appendix to the Gospel of Mark 
and, being no part of the canonical gospel, cannot be 
quoted in support of this doctrine. 

Several other passages are adduced in behalf of this 
claim. "And he cast out the spirits with a word, and 
healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself 
took our infirmities, and bare our diseases" (Matt. 
8:16, 17). This passage refers only to the healing works 
of Jesus and contains no promise that the same power 
would be extended to his disciples through the ages. 

1 B. B. Warfield, in Counterfeit Miracles, p. 106. 



232 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

The same principle applies to the power of healing com- 
mitted by Jesus to the Twelve (Luke 9:1) and to the 
Seventy (Luke 10:9) as he was commissioning them and 
sending them forth: they were given such power as his 
oflScial apostles and not to all believers through all time. 
**Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, 
the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works 
than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father" 
(John 14:12, 13). The context shows that Jesus was 
specially speaking at this time of his spiritual works in 
manifesting the Father, and no one thinks that he meant 
to extend to every believer miraculous power to still 
stormy seas and raise the dead. "'These 'greater works' 
were the spiritual effects accomplished by the disciples, 
especially the great novel fact of conversion" (The 
Expositor's Greek Testament). *Ts any among you 
sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let 
them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of 
the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is 
sick, and the Lord shall raise him up" (James 5:14, 15). 
In this passage the use of the medical means employed in 
that day is commanded, and this makes it an unfortunate 
Scripture to be appealed to by those who reject the use 
of such means. No passage can be quoted that shows 
that strictly miraculous powers were to be extended 
beyond Jesus and his apostles who used them as signs of 
divine authority. The use of medical means is sanctioned 
all the way through the Scriptures. The Bible is a 
common-sense book that builds on the broad base of 
universal natural law and human experience, and it 
cannot be enlisted in the service of irrational ways of 
dealing with disease, or with anything else. 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 233 

Christians of almost all schools believe in prayer for 
the sick and that God can and does answer such prayer 
in accordance with his wisdom, but they also believe 
that he works through means, including medical skill. 
God is in all the processes of nature and of human art, 
and no one is more ready to acknowledge this than the 
Christian physician. "In the healing of every disease of 
whatever kind,'* says Dr. Henry H. Goddard, "we cannot 
be too deeply impressed with the Lord's part of the 
work. He is the Operator. We are the cooperators. 
More and more am I impressed that every patient of 
mine who has ever risen up from his sick bed on to his 
feet again has done so by the divine power. Not I, but 
the Lord, has cured him.'* But such divine part in healing, 
however supernatural it may be, is not to be confused with 
a miracle in the Scripture sense of a sign wrought to 
certify the deity of our Lord and the authority of his 
apostles. 1 

3. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 

Christian Science is one form of mind cure. Mrs. 
Eddy was anxious to make the impression that her 
system had no connection or ajSSnity with the various 
forms of faith healing. ''They regard the human mind 
as a healing agent,'* she says in the Preface to "'Science 
and Health," "whereas this mind is not a factor in the 
Principle of Christian Science." Her theory is that dis- 
ease and matter and all forms of "mortal mind" are 

1 This subject is fully discussed in Benjamin B. Warfield's Counter- 
feit Miracles, He quotes with approval a writer in the Edinburgh 
Review: **In point of interpretation, the history of Protestantism is 
a uniform disclaimer of any promise in the Scriptures that miraculous 
powers should be continued in the Church." 



234 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

"nothingness," and that the understanding of truth 
destroys these delusions. She distinguishes between 
mind-cure and Mind-cure, capitalized Mind in her 
vocabulary being the infinite Mind which is the "allness" 
that includes all things, the knowledge of which leaves 
no room for the "nothingness'* of matter and disease. 
Nevertheless, there is no escaping the fact that her 
system is a form of mind cure, for she urges the patient 
to "deny'* disease and all the delusions of "mortal mind," 
and thereby adopts and uses the fundamental principle 
of all forms of mental healing. The only difference 
between her system and other systems and the distinctive 
feature of her theory is the bad and absurd philosophy 
that she adopted as the cause and explanation of her 
method of healing; but this false philosophy has little or 
no necessary connection with the concrete working of 
her method. 

Chapter XVIII in "Science and Health," entitled 
"Fruitage," consists of eighty-four letters giving accounts 
of alleged cases of healing by Christian Science, which 
are presented in illustration and proof of the system. It 
is open to anyone to inspect these cases and endeavor 
to form some judgment of them. Each one has a heading 
giving the name of the disease that has been cured and 
is signed with the initials and address of the writer al- 
though the addresses are useless for purposes of investi- 
gation when only the initials of the writers* names are 
given. The list looks impressive as one glances through 
it and notes that every case is reported as cured and that 
almost every kind of disease is found in it. In the head- 
ings there appear such announcements as "Rheumatism 
Healed,'* "Astigmatism and Hernia Healed,'* "Substance 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 235 

of Lungs Restored," "Fibroid Tumor Healed in a Few 
Days," ''Insanity and Epilepsy Healed," "A Case of 
Mental Surgery," these being the titles of the first six 
letters. 

The writer does not doubt that many of these persons 
were healed, or that they got well of whatever ailments 
they had. The cures of Christian Science are as numerous 
and real as those of other forms of mental healing, and 
no one disputes this fact. We also admit that these 
writers were sincere and honest in the accounts they 
gave of their diseases and their cures as they under- 
stood them. But the real question is whether these 
accounts are correct, and not whether their authors 
thought they were so. 

On closer examination of the letters om* suspicion 
is aroused when we note that no instance of failure is 
included in these eighty-four cases. What does this mean ? 
Does it mean that there are no failures whatever with 
Christian Science healers, or that these cases were win- 
nowed out of a larger number from which the failures 
were omitted? Or does it mean that only those who think 
they are healed write such testimonies, and others that 
failed to receive such healing are not heard from? Our 
doubts as to the trustworthiness of these testimonies are 
further strengthened by the fact that without exception 
they were written by nonmedical persons who had no 
technical knowledge of the diseases and symptoms and 
cures which they undertake to describe. Not one of 
them is written by a physician, or is accompanied with 
the certificate of a physician. Space here permits only 
several typical extracts from them, as they are usually long 
and contain much irrelevant matter. 



236 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

One correspondent writes: "For seventeen years I 
had suffered with indigestion and gastritis in the worst 
form, often being overcome from a seeming pressure 
against the heart. I had asthma for four years, also had 
worn glasses for four years. It seemed to me that I had 
swallowed every known medicine to relieve my indigestion, 
but they only gave temporary benefit. I purchased a 
copy of 'Science and Health,' and simply from the reading 
of that grand book was completely healed of all physical 
ailments in two weeks* time.'' Another writes: '*I 
pursued the study [of Christian Science] carefully and 
thoroughly, and I have had abundant reason since to be 
glad that I did, for through this study, and the resulting 
understanding of my relation to God, I was healed of a 
disease with which I had been afflicted since childhood 
and for which there was no known remedy." And another 
writes: "Through reading 'Science and Health' and the 
illumination which followed, I was healed of ulceration 
of the stomach and kindred troubles, a restless sense of 
existence, agnosticism, etc." 

Now when one considers how difficult it often is to 
diagnose disease and how often even experienced physi- 
cians make mistakes in this part of their art and how easy 
it is for one suffering with any bodily disturbance to 
imagine that he has almost any disease, the value of these 
testimonies as to diseases cured becomes very small. 
Even when some of these persons say that one or more 
physicians told them they had these diseases and "gave 
them up," such testimony, without necessarily being 
dishonest, is untrustworthy, because it is easy to misunder- 
stand or misreport these physicians and we would like 
to know what they really did say. In very many instances 



I 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 237 

such alleged reports of physicians have been run down 
and have been proved to be incorrect. 

Over against these testimonies of Christian Scientists 
who claim they were healed of almost all ailments, in- 
cluding organic diseases and surgical cases, we can put 
the proved facts as to many notable cases that were total 
failures and the testimony of eminent medical authorities. 
As to notorious cases of failure and disaster and death, 
they have been recorded in such numbers and with such 
proofs as must stagger the faith of even the most devoted 
and credulous Christian Scientists. ^ 

It is not to be forgotten that Mrs. Eddy herself dropped 
out of her therapeutics surgery, obstetrics, and infectious 
diseases. **Until the advancing age admits the eflSicacy 
and supremacy of Mind, it is better for Christian Scientists 
to leave surgery and the adjustment of broken bones 
and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon, while the 
mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental recon- 
struction and to the prevention of inflammation.'* "Ob- 
stetrics is not Science, and will not be taught." "Mrs. 
Eddy advises, until the public thought becomes better 
acquainted with Christian Science, that Christian Sci- 
entists decline to doctor infectious or contagious diseases."^ 
She further wrote: "Christian Scientists should be in- 
fluenced by their own judgment in taking a case of 
malignant disease, they should consider well their ability 
to cope with the case — and not overlook the fact that 
there are those lying in wait to catch them in their sayings; 

1 For such cases see Milmine's History, pp. 324-326, 354-356; 
Peabody's Masquerade, pp. 103-120; The New Church Review, 1908^ 
vol. XV, p. 419; Paget's Faith and Works of Christian Science, pp. 
130-190. 

2 The Christian Science Journal, December, 1902. 



238 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

neither should they forget that in their practice, whether 
successful or not, they are not specially protected by law/' 
It was because the hand of the law was laid on Christian 
Science practitioners that these admonitions and limi- 
tations were imposed upon them; and they were embodied 
in a by-law that **if a member of this church has a patient 
that he does not heal, and whose case he cannot lawfully 
diagnose, he may consult with an M. D. on the anatomy 
involved." These three classes of cases from which the 
practitioners of this faith are warned away, surgery, 
obstetrics, and infectious and contagious diseases, cut 
a wide swath through the field of the disease healing art 
and are a tremendous limitation upon the power and the 
claims of Christian Science. In the presence of these 
admitted limitations, what becomes of Mrs. Eddy's claim 
that '^Christian Science is always the most skillful sur- 
geon," and her boast in the Preface of "Science and 
Health," that "thousands of well-authenticated cases of 
healing" "have proved the worth of her teachings," 
"cases" which "for the most part have been abandoned 
as hopeless by regular medical attendants"? A "regular 
medical attendant" who was a general practitioner and 
would not touch a case of surgery, obstetrics, or infectious 
or contagious disease would be a curiosity in his profes- 
sion and would not have much to do. 

Time and again Mrs. Eddy and other Christian Scien- 
tists have been challenged to submit cases of their healing 
to medical inspection, but no such challenge has been 
accepted. Luther T. Townsend, professor of theology 
in Boston University, submitted this proposition to Mrs. 
Eddy: "If you or the president of your college, or your 
entire college of doctors, will put into place a real case of 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 239 

hip or ankle dislocation, without resorting to the ordinary 
manipulation or without touching it, I will give you one 
thousand dollars. Or if you or your president, or your 
entire college, will give sight to one of the inmates of the 
South Boston Asylum for the Blind, that sightless person 
having been born blind, I will give you two thousand 
dollars.'* The following reply to this appeared in the 
Christian Science Journal: *'Will the gentleman accept 
my thanks due to his generosity, for if I should accept 
his bid he would lose his money. Why, because I per- 
formed more difficult tasks fifteen years ago. At present 
I am in another department of Christian work, where 
*there shall no sign be given them,* for they shall be in- 
structed in the principles of Christian Science that fur- 
nishes its own proof." 

Richard C. Cabot, M. D., professor in the Harvard 
Medical School, in McClure's Magazine for August, 1908, 
had an article entitled *'One Hundred Christian Science 
Cures." The cases he examined were gathered out of 
The Christian Science Journal, and he gives evidence to 
prove that the accounts of the cases had been **doctored" 
by the editor of the Journal or by some other Christian 
Science authority, and the same editing is evident in 
many of the cases reported by Christian Science officials, 
including those in the chapter on *Truitage" in "Science 
and Health." Of these one hundred cases Dr. Cabot 
found that seventy-two were "functional," seven were 
"cases of what appears to be organic," eleven were "cases 
very difficult to class," and ten were "cases regarding 
which no reasonable conjecture can be made." His 
conclusions with respect to them were, "first, that most 
Christian Science cures are probably genuine; but, sec- 



240 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

ondly, they are not cures of organic disease." "I havenever 
found," he says, *'one in which there was any good evidence 
that cancer, consumption, or any other organic disease 
had been arrested or banished." He had ^'followed up" 
many alleged cures of such diseases, but "the diagnosis 
was never based upon any proper evidence." He further 
says: ''Of the classical methods of psychotherapeutics, 
namely, explanation, education, psychoanalysis, en- 
couragement, suggestion, rest-cure and work-cure, the 
Christian Scientists use chiefly suggestion, education, and 
work-cure, though each of these methods is colored and 
shaped by the peculiar doctrines of the sect." 

One of the most extensive, thoroughgoing, authoritative, 
and convincing investigations of the cures of Christian 
Science was made by Stephen Paget, M. D., an eminent 
English medical authority, and the results were published 
in his book entitled ''The Faith and Works of Christian 
Science," 1909. He took "two hundred consecutive 
Testimonies of Healing, from her weekly journal, the 
Christian Science Sentinel," and published them in his 
book, filling twenty-nine pages. He adds footnotes to 
some of the cases, pointing out their ambiguities and telling 
us that he wrote to some of the patients and in no instance 
did he receive a satisfactory answer. He then passes 
judgment on these two hundred cases, but space here 
permits only a few of his statements: 

The vast majority of these testimonies are not worth the paper 
on which they are printed. . . These are not testimonies, but 
testimonials; every advertisement of a new quack medicine publishes 
the like of them. . . What is the good of proclaiming that Christian 
Science heals diseases which get well of themselves? Time heals 
them. Here is a girl with a cold in her head: she is healed ^'through 
the realization of the omnipresence of Love." Was there ever such 
an insult offered to the name of Love? . . . Let us apply a fair and 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 241 

mild test to these two hundred cases. Let us show them to any 
doctor; and let us ask him what he thinks of them. He will laugh at 
them: he will say, **What is the good of such cases.? Why don't 
they report them properly? Why don't they give details? What 
do they mean by spinal trouble, and all the other troubles?" 



Dr. Paget gives an account of the alleged cure of a 
case of leprosy; he wrote to the patient and he shows 
that there is no good ground for believing that he ever 
had this disease. He gives the experience of and quotes 
from a number of eminent medical authorities, including 
Dr. John B. Huber, Professor in Fordham University 
Medical School, New York, William A. Purrington, Uni- 
versity Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence, New York, 
Henry H. Goddard, Lecturer on Psychology of Mental 
Defectives, New York University, Dr. Albert Moll, of 
Berlin, and Dr. R. C. Cabot, of Boston. The following 
is a quotation from Mr. Purrington: 



In the record of deaths resulting from the treatment of Christian 
Scientists, Faith Curers, Peculiar People, et id genus omne, a large 
proportion are those of neglected children suffering from acute in- 
flammation of the lungs, diphtheria, pneumonia, and like complaints. 
One horrible and typical case in Brooklyn was brought to public 
notice by an undertaker called in by a Faith Curer to bury the 
latter' s child, six years of age, dead from diphtheria. Two other 
children, one about eight, the other less than two years old, were 
found suffering from the same disease. The father explained his 
failure to call in medical aid by saying he did not believe in doctors, 
since he believed in Christ. ^ 



Dr. Paget gives a quotation from Dr. J. M. Buckley's 
"very careful paper in the North American Review, 
July, 1901,'* which is as follows: 



1 For the legal case against Christian Science, see Mr. Purrington's 
book Christian Science; An Exposition, 



242 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

, The failures of Christian Science are innumerable. Twenty years 
ago I collected vital statistics of various communistic institutions 
which refuse medical aid, and compared them with the tables of life 
insurance companies; and on the basis of the results of the com- 
parison, I predicted that, should Christian Science at any time begin 
to spread rapidly, or should antimedicine, faith-healing institutions 
be largely increased, the number of deaths would attract attention, 
and public indignation be excited by failures to heal maladies which 
ordinarily yield to medical or surgical treatment. This prediction 
is now being fulfilled every day. Many who have been vainly 
treated by Christian Scientists are now dead. None of their 
failures is mentioned by the healers, and few of the living victims, 
who are usually silenced by shame. One I met in an insane asylum, 
muttering all day long, "God can never be sick.'' 



Dr. Paget collected and printed in his book sixty-eight 
cases of alleged cures by Christian Scientists which were 
shown to be unfounded and worse by physicians who 
sent them to Dr. Paget for the book. He says of these 
cases: "They display (1) the great liking which Christian 
Science has for the very worst sort of 'surgical cases'; 
(2) the cruelty or brutality which naturally goes with her 
terror of pain and of death; (3) the element of madness 
which is in her faith; (4) the vanity or self-conceit which 
approves and adopts a bastard philosophy, not merely 
for its own sake, but for the sake of opposition to au- 
thority." The twenty-eight pages filled with these cases 
are verily terrible reading and give one a sense of the 
appalling suflFering and brutality and death that result 
from this system. There is space for only two reports 
which come from American physicians. The first one is 
as follows: 

I am sending you the following two cases where the patients were 
treated by Christian Science, and were worse, and died after the 
treatment; and the third case, one of "miraculous conception." 
The first was a man in middle life, who had a mild attack of nephritis, 
and was told by a Christian Science healer to eat and drink as he 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 243 

pleased, and to go ahead with his business, for **he only thought he 
was sick." He soon developed uraemic convulsions, and died. The 
second was a man with a small epithelioma of tongue, who was told 
by a Christian Scientist that it didn't amount to anything, and 
that their treatment would soon make it disappear. He died of its 
ravages while receiving treatment from them. The third case 
which came to my knowledge, was one of conception, and the delivery 
of a child at term, in a Christian Scientist, who declared she con- 
ceived by thought, as taught in their creed, and that no man entered 
into the case. 



The other case is from a Boston physician and is as 
follows : 



Boston is a hotbed of Christian Science, and we see a great many 
patients who are treated by those who practice it. I have seen a 
patient dying of strangulated hernia, who had been treated from 
first to last by Christian Science until the period of operability had 
passed. I have seen one or two patients dying of hemorrhage who 
had been treated by Christian Science. I should say I had seen 
about a hundred cases, in which the only chance for cure had been 
lost through Christian Science treatment. 

Dr. Paget sums up his investigations of this system 
thus: 

These short notes, put here as I got them, give but a faint sense 
of the ill working of Christian Science. It would be easy to collect 
hundreds more. Of course, to see the full iniquity of these cases, 
the reader should be a doctor. But everybody, doctor or not, can 
feel the cruelty, born of fear of pain, in some of these Scientists — 
the downright madness threatening not a few of them, and the 
appalling self-will. They bully dying women, and let babies die in 
pain; let cases of paralysis tumble about and hurt themselves; rob 
the epileptic of their bromide, the syphilitic of their iodide, the 
angina cases of their amy] nitrite, the heart cases of their digitalis; 
let appendicitis go on to septic peritonitis, gastric ulcer to perforation 
of the stomach, nephritis to uraemic convulsions, and strangulated 
hernia to the miserere met of gangrene; watch, day after day, while 
a man or a woman bleeds to death; compel them who should be 
kept still to take exercise; and withhold from all cases of cancer all 
hope of cure. To these works of the Devil they bring their one gift, 
willful and complete ignorance; and their "nursing** would be a 
farce, if it were not a tragedy. Such is the wayjof Christian Science, 



244 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

face to face, as she loves to be, with bad cases of organic disease. . . 
In a rage. Common-sense cries, "For God's sake leave the children 
alone. It doesn't matter with grown-up people; they can believe 
what they like about Good and Evil, and germs, and things. But 
the children; they take their children to these services. Why can't 
they leave the children out of it?" . . . The corner stone of her 
church is not Jesus Christ but her own vanity. She is cruel to 
babies and young children; she is worse than close-fisted over her 
money; she despises Christianity, and is at open war with experience 
and common sense. . . We examine her testimonials, and find them 
worthless. We are told that she is Christ come again, and we can 
see that she is not. We listen to her philosophical talk, and observe 
that she is illiterate, and ignorant of the rudiments of logic. We 
admit, and are glad, that she has enabled thousands of nervous 
persons to leave off worrying, and has cured many '^functional 
disorders;'* but she has done that, not by revelation, but by sug- 
gestion. The healed, whom she incessantly advertises, are but few, 
compared with them that are whole, . . and a thousand brave and 
quiet lives, the unnamed legion of good non-Scientists. They bear, 
not deny, pain; they confess, not confuse, the reality of sin; they 
face, not outface, death. 

The author could add from personal knowledge cases of 
the failure of Christian Science treatment, especially one sad 
case ending in death, but it is better to rest the matter on 
the authoritative judgment of medical men; and such 
adverse judgments could be multiplied indefinitely. 

*'By their fruits ye shall know them." By this prag- 
matic test the "'fruitage" of Christian Science in all cases 
of surgery and organic disease and in many other cases is 
proved false and injurious, and sometimes it needlessly 
and cruelly insures death. It already has to carry a 
load of infamy that should condemn it beyond recovery 
of any public confidence and respect. The law has laid 
its hand on it and restricted it in some degree, but it is 
still a dangerous delusion. That an illiterate woman, 
utterly ignorant of the most elementary scientific knowl- 
edge of the human body and its treatment in disease, 
should have been able to overthrow, for many people. 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 245 

the first principles of medical science, which is the growth 
of centuries, and get them to trust and practice this 
false and disastrous theory, is one of the marvels of our 
day, almost shaking our faith in human rationality; but 
it is partially explained by the fact that in no other 
field are people more easily deluded and led astray by 
impostors and quacks than in medicine. In their eager 
desire for cure and health they will wildly catch at any 
straw floating on the stream in which they are struggling. 
AH this is said while acknowledging that Christian 
Science as a system of mind cure does succeed in giving 
relief in many cases of a functional kind. People of a 
nervous temperament with all kinds of functional de- 
rangement gravitate to it by an affinity that is not wholly 
mistaken, and by the change wrought in their minds do 
experience temporary relief and often permanent benefit. 
Let full credit be given to it for such work, which it 
accomplishes in common with and by the same general 
means as other forms of mind healing. But when it sets 
itself up as a system of curing all disease and makes 
claims of such "fruitage" as is given us in **Science and 
Health" and is constantly being published in the Christian 
Science Journal, it is a delusion and menace whose falsity 
and evil works must be exposed. 

4. THE MERCENARY ASPECT OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Mrs. Eddy early developed a keen instinct for money 
and turned her religion and church into a business concern 
which in thorough organization and masterly management 
and in extraordinary success and huge profits rivaled some 
of our great corporations. She is the only founder of a 
religion known to history who deliberately set about 



246 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

making money from her cult. She was a prophet out for 
profit. Jesus in sending out his twelve disciples said 
unto them: "And as ye go, preach, saying. The kingdom 
of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, 
cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, 
freely give. Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in 
your purses; no wallet for your journey, neither two 
coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his 
food" (Matt. 10:7-10). They were to charge no price 
for their healing and to take nothing for the grace of 
God. But Mrs. Eddy charged for everything and took 
all she could get, "supposing that godliness is a way of 
gain'* (I Tim. 6:5). When Simon the sorcerer wanted to 
buy of Peter the gift of the Holy Spirit that he might 
make money out of it, the apostle pronounced a grave 
judgment upon him, declaring that he was still "in the 
gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity" (Acts 
8:18-24); but Mrs. Eddy stood in no fear of any such 
retribution. Isaiah cried out, "Ho, every one that 
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no 
money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and 
milk without money and without price" (ch. 55:1); but 
Christian Science healing comes high, and whoever 
would receive it must come liberally supplied with money. 
The freeness of the grace of God is proclaimed all the way 
through the Scriptures and is one of its glories, but who- 
ever would partake of the promised blessing of Mrs. Eddy's 
gospel must pay for it and pay well. After struggling 
through years of bitter poverty in which at times she ate 
the bread of charity, this remarkable woman, who at 
fifty years of age was unknown and was literally a home- 
less wanderer, suddenly began to wield a golden scepter 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 247 

and turned out to be a veritable wizard of finance. She 
rapidly rose to aflfluence and died a millionaire, several 
times over. 

As usual with her, she based her money-making scheme 
on an alleged divine revelation, which she announced in 
the following terms: 



When God impelled me to set a price on Christian Science mind 
healing, I could think of no financial equivalent for the impartation 
of a knowledge of that divine power which heals; but I was led to 
name three hundred dollars as the price for each pupil in one course 
of lessons at my college; a startling sum for tuition lasting barely 
three weeks. This amount greatly troubled me. I shrank from 
asking it, but was finally led by a strange Providence to accept 
this fee. God has since shown me in multitudinous ways the 
wisdom of this decision. ^ 



It is really pathetic to observe the shrinking modesty 
with which she recoiled from the idea of fixing a price of 
three hundred dollars for twelve lessons running through 
only three weeks, and the extreme difficulty with which 
she brought herself to consent to it, though she was 
acting under a divine compulsion and was led by a strange 
Providence to do it; yet she confesses, somewhat incon- 
sistently, that she could not think of any price that would 
be a financial equivalent for the knowledge she imparted 
of divine healing. Yet after all this hesitation as though 
it went hard with her conscience to charge such '*a startling 
sum" for only twelve lessons, she presently reduced the 
number of lessons from twelve to seven without reducing 
the price of the com-se, thereby increasing the price from 
the ''startling sum" of twenty-five to the still more 
"startling sum" of forty-three dollars a lesson. In ex- 

1 Retrospection and Introspection, 



248 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

planation of this she pubHshed the following notice in the 
Christian Science Journal for December, 1888: 



Having reached a place in teaching where my students in Christian 
Science are taught more during seven lessons in the primary class 
than they were formerly in twelve, and taught all that is profitable 
at one time, hereafter the primary class will include seven lessons 
only. As this number of lessons is of more value than twice this 
number in times past, no change is made in the price of tuition, three 
hundred dollars. Mary Baker Eddy. 



When she began teaching, however, she had a different 
scale of prices as set forth in the following contract: 

We, the undersigned, do hereby agree, in consideration of in- 
structions and manuscripts received from Mrs. Mary B. Glover, to 
pay her $100 in advance, and ten per cent annually on the income 
that we receive from practicing or teaching the same. We also do 
hereby agree to pay said Mary B. Glover $1000 in case we do not 
practice or teach the science she has taught us.i 

Under this contract she not only got her fee for teaching 
her "science,*' but also reaped a royalty from the fees of 
her students. She was thus sowing seed from which she 
could reap a perpetual harvest, and her fine financial 
hand was in evidence in this arrangement. She also 
bound her students to pay her a large sum whether they 
did or did not practice or teach her science. Whatever 
was done or not done she had everything to gain and 
nothing to lose. 

Mrs. Eddy's "Metaphysical College,*' which was in 
no proper sense a "college" at all but was really a bogus 
institution of the rankest quackery, was a strictly family 
affair, for its whole "faculty" consisted of Mrs. Eddy, 

1 Peabody, Masquerade, p. 123. 



f 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 249 

her third husband, Asa Gilbert Eddy, and her adopted 
son, J. Foster Eddy, so that its entire proceeds practically 
flowed into her coffers. Mrs. Eddy says that ''during 
seven years some four thousand students were taught by 
me in this college.'' Four thousand students at three 
hundred dollars apiece would yield one million two hundred 
thousand dollars! One would think that a family of three 
with an annual income of one hundred and seventy thou- 
sand dollars could lay by something for a rainy day, and 
Mrs. Eddy did. She took some charity students so that 
some reduction would need to be made, but there never 
was very much charity in her transactions. It went 
hard with a student that did not pay the tuition, for a 
lawsuit was frequently brought to compel payment, 
which suits she lost in every instance, the judge in one 
case deciding that she had not rendered any useful service 
for the fee.l 

Mrs. Eddy struck a still richer vein of ore in her book 
"Science and Health," of which, after the earlier editions, 
she herself was the publisher. This book was sold for 
three dollars in the cheapest binding and on up to six 
dollars for more expensive bindings. Mr. Peabody thinks 
the book could be manufactured in those days in large 
quantities for fifty cents a copy, yielding a five hundred 
per cent profit on the cheapest edition; and Mark Twain, 
who was himself a publisher with an unfortunate ex- 
perience in the business says: *T am obliged to doubt that 
the three-dollar 'Science and Health* costs Mrs. Eddy 
above fifteen cents, or that the six-dollar copy costs her 

1 Mr. F. W. Peabody, of the Baston bar, says that he has examined 
the court record in two of these cases. See his Masquerade, pp. 123, 
124. 



250 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

above eighty cents. I feel quite sure that the average 
profit to her on these books, above cost of manufacture, is 
all of seven hundred per cent/' Our respect for Mrs. 
Eddy's financial ability is rising. She made money where 
Mark Twain lost it! 

How many copies did she sell? The book, we have 
seen, passed through nearly five hundred editions before 
the publisher stopped numbering them. We are not told 
how many copies were published in each edition, but the 
total must have mounted up into hundreds of thousands. 
Where did Mrs. Eddy find a market for such an enormous 
output of a religious book? In her students and in the 
membership of her church, every one of whom was ex- 
pected and induced by notices and commands whose 
meaning could not be evaded to purchase a copy of this 
'^textbook'* of the faith that was of equal rank and au- 
thority with the Bible. In the Christian Science Journal 
for March, 1897, appeared this remarkable notice: 



Christian Scientists in the United States and Canada are hereby 
enjoined not to teach a student of Christian Science for one year, 
commencing on March 14» 1897. "Miscellaneous Writings'* is cal- 
culated to prepare the minds of all true thinkers to understand the 
Christian Science textbook more correctly than a student can. 
The Bible, **Science and Health with Key to the Scripture," and my 
other published works, are the only proper instructors for this hour. 
It shall be the duty of all Christian Scientists to circulate and to 
sell as many of these books as they can. If a member of The First 
Church of Christ, Scientist, shall fail to obey this injunction, it will 
render him liable to lose his membership in this church. Mary 
Baker G. Eddy. 



Can the like of that notice be found in all the religious 
literature of the world, Christian and pagan? This 
prophet actually stopped the teaching of her faith for 
one year in order to reap a larger profit from the increased 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 251 

forced sale of her books during this period! She now 
included her "other published works'* along with her 
textbook in this order and required every member of her 
church to circulate and sell as many of these books as 
possible, the penalty of failing to do this being excom- 
munication from the church! What other prophet or 
priest ever did such a thing as this? 

But we have not reached the end of this business, and 
the worst is yet to come. There was a reason why so many 
editions of "Science and Health" should issue from the 
press. We have seen how the book was always under- 
going change, being in a fluid condition. These changes 
were often trivial, but Christian Scientists were always 
given to understand that they should have the latest 
edition! Does the reader not see what this meant? 
It meant that every new edition put all the previous 
editions out of date, and loyal Christian Scientists had 
to get the latest edition of this bible to have the latest 
inspired word on the subject of their salvation. A bible 
that constantly needs revising, even though it be inspired, 
at least has the advantage of always being able to com- 
mand a large market among the faithful for each new 
revision. 

An astonishing instance of how this scheme was worked 
occurred when this notice appeared in February, 1908: 

Take Notice: I request Christian Scientists universally to read the 
paragraph beginning at line thirty of page 442 in the edition of 
"Science and Health,'* which will be issued, February 29. I con- 
sider the information there given to be of great importance at this 
stage of the workings of animal magnetism, and it will greatly aid 
the students in their individual experiences. Mary Baker G. Eddy. 

Mr. Peabody tells us that at the time this appeared 



252 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Senator Chandler happened to be with him in Boston, 
as they were engaged together as counsel in the litigation 
then pending in connection with Mrs. Eddy's competency 
to manage her affairs. The senator was anxious to see 
this edition as he "was particularly interested in keeping 
tabs on Mrs. Eddy's mental attitude toward so-called 
*animal magnetism/" Mr. Peabody went out and ob- 
tained a copy of the new edition and on opening it at 
the page and line found the "information*' that was of 
such "great importance" and "would greatly aid the 
students." "It was just two lines," says Mr. Peabody, 
"inserted in a blank space at the end of a chapter and 
necessitated the change of no other plate of a single page 
in the book." This is what they saw: "Christian Scien- 
tists, be a law to yourselves, that mental malpractice 
can harm you neither when asleep nor when awake." 
Whereupon Senator Chandler exclaimed : "What a swindle! 
Do you suppose anyone can be of so little intelligence, 
who buys that book in consequence of Mrs. Eddy's 
notice and reads this paragraph, that he does not feel, 
as we feel, that he has been swindled?" And this is Mr. 
Peabody 's comment: "Only this and nothing more. It 
is senseless, and yet it cost many thousands of Christian 
Scientists from three to six dollars apiece to find out, 
if they could find anything out, that the *revelator' had 
sold them *a gold brick.' And even since the edition of 
February, 1908, another edition, with only one line added, 
has been foisted upon the faithful."^ 

In the words of Colonel Sellers, with such a book, 
"There's millions in it!" 

In addition to these main streams of revenue derived 

^ Masquerade, pp. 136-138. 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 253 

from her college and her book, Mrs. Eddy drained off the 
funds of her followers in various subsidiary tributary 
streams that helped to swell her flood of gold. She 
appeared to be always busy in finding means of making 
money and was fertile in cunning schemes and devices 
to this end. She took to publishing in the Journal lists 
of her Christmas presents, giving the names and addresses 
of the donors, thus flattering their pride to find themselves 
the recipients of such distinguished mention and honor 
and suggesting to others that they should do likewise and 
shine with the same glory. These lists grew with the 
years in length and variety of gifts, and the *Xist of 
Individual Offerings" in the Joiu'nal for 1889 mentions 
thirty-seven articles, consisting of gold-embroidered, 
hand-painted, eider-down pillows, pictures, perfumery, 
books, a barometer, and so on, concluding with "two 
fat Kentucky turkeys,'' and "hosts of bouquets and 
Christmas cards.'* 

She grew bold enough in time to solicit such gifts, and 
four days before Christmas in 1889 there appeared in 
the Christian Science Sentinel this "Card": 

Beloved: I ask this favor of all Christian Scientists. Do not give 
me on, before, or after the forthcoming holidays, aught material 
except three tea jackets. All may contribute to these. One learns 
to value material things only as one needs them, and the costliest 
things are those that one needs least. Among my present needs ma- 
terial are these three jackets. Two of darkish heavy silk, the shade 
appropriate to white hair. The third of heavy satin, lighter shades 
but sufficiently sombre. Nos. 1 and 2 to be common-sense jackets, 
for Mother to work in, and not overtrimmed by any means. No. 3 
for best, such as she can afford for her drawing room. Mary Baker 
Eddy. 

As this request for three tea jackets with particular 
directions as to material and color and style appeared on 



254 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

December 21, Mr. Peabody maintains that she very well 
knew that practically all presents intended for her were 
already mailed, and this was a shrewd device for getting 
the tea jackets extra. Apparently it was not the literal 
tea jackets she wanted, but the money to buy them, as 
she stated that '*A11 may contribute to these.*' If *'aU" 
really did this, she must have received no mean sum of 
money by this device, l Of course it is amusing to find 
Mrs. Eddy saying that '*One learns to value material 
things only as one needs them," but how could she say 
this when her whole philosophy was that material things 
had no value and were all delusions of **mortal mind" and 
the very imps of her devil, "malicious animal mag- 
netism"? The truth is that she had a very real and keen 
sense of the value of such material things as she wanted, 
especially money. Matter in the form of gold was one 
demon of ^'mortal mind" that she never tried to exorcise. 
She never claimed that money was a "nonentity" that 
was to be "denied" as a "delusion": that would have 
ruined her business. 

Perhaps the climax of these catchpenny devices or side 
lines of her trade was the famous "Christian Science 
Spoon" or "Mother Spoon" that she foisted upon her 
followers. This was an ordinary silver spoon with Mrs. 
Eddy's likeness embossed upon it, together with a 
picture of Pleasant View, Mrs. Eddy's signature, and the 
motto, "Not Matter but Mind Satisfies." It was sold 
to the faithful for $5 . 00, which would net her a profit of 
several hundred per cent. It was introduced to them 



1 For Mr. Peabody' s full account of this very peculiar request, 
see his Masquerade, pp. 140-143. 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 255 

with this announcement and command, which appeared 
in the Journal for February, 1890: 

Christian Science Spoons. — On each of these most beautiful 
spoons is a motto in bas-relief that every person on earth needs to 
hold in thought. Mother requests that Christian Scientists shall 
not ask to be informed what this motto is, but each Scientist shall 
[here the request passes to a command] purchase at least one spoon, 
and those who can afford it, one dozen spoons, that their families 
may read this motto at every meal and their guests be made partakers 
of its simple truth. Mary Baker G. Eddy. 

The above-named spoons are sold by the Christian Science 
Souvenir Company, Concord, N. H., and will soon be on sale at the 
Christian Science reading rooms throughout the country. 

Again we wonder at the mercenary spirit and effrontery 
of this thing. Christian Scientists must not let their 
curiosity get the better of them so far as to ask what 
this remarkable motto is and thereby get the information 
free of charge and deprive "'Mother" of her rightful 
profit, but each one "shall" buy his own spoon, and not 
one only, but, if he "can afford it," at least a dozen, so 
that the whole family and their guests may read each one 
for himself this precious bit of inspired wisdom, which 
apparently exhales its divine virtue only when it is read 
from the silver spoon itself. If "every person on earth" 
had hastened to buy this article it would have had a 
market immensely beyond that of the magic book and 
there would literally have been "millions in it." Did 
Christian Scientists swallow this spoon? They did! 
And yet they affect surprise and are offended when we 
wonder at their gullibility. 

There were still smaller catchpenny devices. "Christian 
Science emblems," Miss Milmine tells us, "and Mrs. 
Eddy's 'favorite flower' were made into cuff -buttons, rings, 
brooches, watches, and pendants, varying in price from 



256 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

$325 to $2 .50." Mrs. Eddy's picture was also exploited, 
and a copyrighted photograph was introduced and recom- 
mended to her followers in a notice which appeared in 
the Journal for May, 1899, and which read: 



It is with pleasure I certify that after months of incessant toil 
and at great expense Mr. Henry P. Moore, and Mr. J. C. Derby of 
Concord, N. H., have brought out a likeness of me far superior to the 
one they offered for sale last November. The portrait they have 
now perfected I cordially endorse. Also I declare their sole right to 
the making and exclusive sale of the duplicates of said portrait. I 
simply ask that those who love me purchase this portrait. Mary 
Baker Eddy. 



"This portrait," says Miss Milmine, **is known as the 
^authorized' photograph of Mrs. Eddy. It was sold for 
years as a genuine photograph of Mrs Eddy, but it is 
admitted now at Christian Science salesrooms that this 
picture is a composite." Even her photograph was 
faked. 

How did Mrs. Eddy spend her large income? Nobody 
outside of her inner circle seems to know. She contri- 
buted to few if any charities, and she gave very little to 
her own church or propaganda. She always got others 
to furnish the money to publish her book in its early 
editions and to build her church, and in general she made 
her enterprises pay their own way and then yield her a 
large profit. She was not known as being generous and 
was generally regarded as being parsimonious and close- 
fisted. She knew how to drive sharp bargains to get 
money, and then she knew how to keep it. She gave her 
son, George W. Eddy, considerable help at different times, 
and when litigation was brought in her last days she 
settled on him a modest competence. Shrewd in getting 



MIND HEALING AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CURES 257 

and miserly in spending, she hoarded her money and 
died leaving a large fortune estimated at over two millions 
of dollars, which now appears to be a bone of contention 
and a disrupting power in her church. A lawsuit was a 
fitting part of her legacy, perpetuating in her death what 
pursued her, or rather what she pursued, in her life. 

Two millions of dollars derived from teaching a religion 
and selling a religious book and various personal me- 
mentos! No small achievement that for a woman who at 
fifty years of age was unknown outside of a narrow circle 
in which she was an unwelcome object of charity and who 
was burdened with infirmities and was a nervous wreck. 
Along with her other peculiar powers this remarkable 
woman had a streak of financial genius. She could turn 
her esoteric stock in trade into gold with a magic that 
might well excite the envy of many a Wall Street magnate 
or great business promoter. But, somehow, making 
money and founding a religion do not seem to go well 
together. There is an incongruity here that jars upon our 
sense of the fitness of things. All the great founders of 
religion were poor men, and the One who was above all 
had not where to lay his head. Mrs. Eddy will not be 
remembered for the money she made, much less for the 
way she made it, if she is remembered at all. 

The mercenary spirit still clings to Christian Science. 
The spirit of its founder did not pass from her church 
when she went out of the world, for it is bred in its bone 
and pulses in its blood. It is the only religion we know 
that is deliberately a system of making money. It has 
its thousands of practitioners in its churches whose 
business it is to heal people for pay ; they are really business 
agents of this cult, financially interested in promoting it. 



258 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

and in a large degree it is this money-making spirit and 
side of Christian Science that keeps it afloat and alive; 
its **science'* would soon sink it. We do not mean to 
imply that these practitioners are conscious quacks who 
are simply playing on the credulity of people and are in 
the business merely for the money that is in it. We 
doubt not that Christian Science believers and prac- 
titioners are sincere and conscientious as a class. But 
none the less they have no proper medical knowledge and 
skill, and when they venture outside of certain nervous 
ailments and offer general treatment to the sick, they are 
dangerous quacks and a menace to any community. 
And they know how to charge, too, according to general 
belief and experience. The author gained personal insight 
into their methods in an instance in which one of them 
fastened herself on a family of means and bled them of a 
large sum of money, which they paid to get rid of her. 
Wealthy patients pay dearly for their treatment. It is 
not to be believed that a system of ''science and health" 
that is based on such ignorance and animated by such a 
mercenary spirit can last. 



CHAPTER X 
THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

There are reasons for the rise and rapid spread of 
Christian Science. No movement is grounded in pure 
irrationality, and every religion can give some show of 
reason for its faith. We shall briefly indicate some of the 
reasons that have given and still give Christian Science 
its impetus and prestige. 

1. THE APPEAL OF HEALTH 

Health is the primary basis of human activity and 
happiness, and all the world is in search of it. Disease in 
myriad forms sows the very air with its seeds and impairs 
the vitality and strength of such multitudes and so 
burdens them with weakness and suffering that the quest 
for some means of relief and cure is eager and intense 
and often pathetic and distressing. The victims of ill 
health and disease, especially those that have tried many 
means and systems of cure only to be repeatedly and 
bitterly disappointed, grow desperate and are willing to 
try any remedy that promises relief, however it may be 
branded in oflBcial medical circles as a quack nostrum. 
Disease in general and particularly functional disorders 
and depressing nervous ailments are the congenial soil in 
which all forms of mind cures and all kinds of quackery 
find rich nourishment and grow rank. 

Christian Science promises this cm-e in a quick and easy 

259 



260 THE TRUlTl ABOtTT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

way, and hence its great attraction to those in ill health 
and its special affinity for those of a nervous temperament. 
That it does afford genuine relief and even permanent cure 
in many such cases has been fully admitted in this study; 
and its work is so far good and is the principal attraction 
and reason why so many have accepted it and are profuse 
in its praise. 

As was to be expected and could have been predicted, 
it flourishes most prolifically in regions where nervous 
disorders prevail as the consequence of climate and as 
the concomitants of social conditions of wealth and luxury 
and the high tension of city life. This has been pointed 
out and strikingly illustrated by Woodbridge Riley, Pro- 
fessor of Philosophy in Vassar College, in his work on 
"American Thought from Puritanism to Pragmatism." 
The author here quotes one or two paragraphs as follows: 

For an explanation [of the spread of Christian Science] we must 
have recourse to the comparison of statistics of the sect with con- 
ditions in various parts of the country. The statistics are to be 
found in the last federal census; the conditions are suggested by an 
interesting, but as yet unpublished map designating the absolute 
number of Christian Scientists in the land. A first glance at the 
map shows this threefold distribution of the sect: the East, the 
Middle West, the Far West. By States this means Massachusetts 
and New York; Illinois and Missouri; Colorado and California. 
This confirms the official statement that the influence is strong over 
comparatively limited areas in the United States. In this threefold 
distribution the pathological factor is primarily in evidence, for the 
centers of influence are large cities, with their concomitant nervous 
disorders, and the health resorts of the mountains and the coast, 
where it is natural that groups of invalids and semi-invalids should 
welcome any new therapeutic agency. . . Christian Science has 
spread largely along the fortieth degree of latitude — the richest pay 
streak of our civilization. From their personal appearance and 
from the showiness of their churches, the followers of the '^scientific 
mental therapeutics'* are manifestly prosperous. Yet with this 
very physical prosperity there goes a spiritual change. As in the 
case of those primitive Christian Scientists, the followers of Plotinus 
who centered in the rich cities of Alexandria and Rome, so these 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 261 

modern Neo-Platonists tend to revolt against overprosperity. With 
a plethora of wealth they incline to asceticism, and long for a breath 
of the upper air of mysticism. In a word, too much of the material 
has brought a desire for the immaterial.^ 

This distribution of Christian Science is borne out by 
the fact that while the Christian churches have only- 
forty per cent of their membership in cities of 25,000 
and over, the Christian Science churches have over 
eighty-two per cent of their membership in such cities and 
are only exceeded by the Jews who have eighty-eight 
per cent in cities. Another fact bearing on the same 
point is that while the average female membership in 
all denominations is fifty-seven per cent, in Christian 
Science churches it rises to over seventy-two per cent, 
the highest of all the churches. 

The list of churches published in the Christian Science 
Journal for December, 1919, also shows that these churches 
are congested along the fortieth degree of latitude. The 
churches in Massachusetts fill two and one-half columns, 
in Illinois four, and in California nearly six columns, 
being more numerous in the latter State, especially in 
the southern part of it, than in any other on account of 
the attraction of its climate to invalids and retired people 
of wealth. But when we pass north and south of this 
line these churches thin out. Minnesota has one column, 
Kentucky has one half and Louisiana only one sixth of 
a column. Christian Science has also made little headway 
in Canada, the whole country having less than two 
columns. 

This church feeds on ill health, which of course is not 
to its discredit. The promise of relief is its chief allure- 

1 Pages 44, 45. 



262 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

ment, and in so far as it fulfills the hopes it creates it 
is to be commended. But it has been shown that its 
results fall far short of its promises, and that it puts 
forth claims that are false and offers remedies that are 
dangerous and sometimes disastrous. It publishes and 
exploits its real or imaginary successes but hides its 
failures, and its victims do not care to make public their 
experience and retire into silence. 

2. THE APPEAL OF COMFORT 

A second appeal of Christian Science is its promise of 
comfort. People that live in conditions of primitive 
civilization where life is a battle with nature and hardship, 
danger and daring, are far less sensitive to discomfort 
and pain than those that are cradled and nursed in the 
multiplying artificial conveniences and luxuries of our 
upholstered modern world. Savages seem to be almost 
insensible to pain, whereas highly cultured, daintily 
coddled souls may be impatient of the slightest irritation 
and annoyance. Most of us bear pain badly. 

Christian Science is characterized by this unwillingness 
to suffer pain. Mrs. Eddy could not stand any discom- 
fort and generally had to have any number of people 
waiting on her. Her father nursed her in his arms after 
she was grown; a special cradle was made for her and her 
second husband rocked her as though she were a baby, 
taking the cradle along with her at their marriage; the 
people that took her into their homes in her wander 
years had to pamper her, and in her later years her faithful 
ones had to protect her from every annoyance, flatter 
her inordinate vanity, minister to her fastidious tem- 
perament and tastes and gratify her every whim. This 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 263 

spirit in no small degree passed into Christian Science 
and in some measui^e characterizes it to this day. Its 
constant aim and effort is to avoid and "deny" any discom- 
fort and to swathe the soul, the **body" having been 
**denied," in the softness of undisturbed serenity. It has 
an aversion to all the ills of life, disease and poverty 
and sacrifice, because these things are unpleasant. There 
is no heroism in its ideas and aims, little of the soldier 
spirit of accepting the trials and hardships of life in the 
pursuit of high ideals, no adventuring upon the sea of 
duty though it be swept by storms, no noble enthusiasm 
that triumphs over perils and pains and glories in them as 
Paul did; there is no cross to its crown, none of the sub- 
lime heroism of Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before 
him endured the cross, despising shame." 

Christian Science may promise and does give a kind of 
comfort, but it is an ignoble kind. It finds its own comfort 
by forgetting the discomfort of others. It is largely 
oblivious of the sufferings of the world because it does 
not believe in the reality of any suffering and thinks 
that such delusion is a personal fault. It has no social 
gospel and no form of social service. It is terribly signifi- 
cant and a damning indictment of Christian Science 
that it has no hospitals and general philanthropies be- 
cause it does not believe in them. It seems monstrous 
that in our modern world with its ever-increasing note of 
altruism a set of people should wrap themselves in comfort 
and nurse their own souls in ease and deaden their ears 
and hush their very houses of worship to all the cries of 
poverty 1 and social distress in the world. Having denied 

1 "Poverty is a belief of material lack or material limitation." 
T. W. Wilby, What Is Christian Science? p. 163.~ 



264 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

the reality of the material world, it has retired into an 
unreal and self-contained world of its own. Its comfort 
is self-centered and selfish. 

Frank Podmore, a not unsympathathetic student of 
Christian Science, throws a searchlight into the heart 
of this aspect of the system in the following quotation: 

The religion of Christian Science oils the wheels of the domestic 
machinery, smooths out business troubles, releases fear, promotes 
happiness. But it is entirely egoistic in expression. . . For 
Christian Scientists there is no recognized service of their fellows, 
beyond the force of their example. . . There are no charities or 
institutions of any kind for social service in connection with Christian 
Science churches. . . Poverty and sin, like sickness, are illusions, 
errors of "mortal mind," and cannot be alleviated by material 
methods. If a man is sick, he does not need drugs; if poor, he has 
no need of money; if suffering, of material help or even sympathy. 
For the cure in all cases must be sought within. The New Religion, 
then, is without the enthusiasm of Humanity. It is, in fact, without 
enthusiasm of any kind. We shall look in vain here for spiritual 
rapture, for ecstatic contemplation of the divine. There is no place 
here for any of the passions which are associated with Christianity, 
nor, indeed, for any exalted emotion. There can be no remorse 
where there is no sin; compassion, when the suffering is unreal, can 
only be mischievous; friendship, as we shall see later, is a snare, 
and the love of man and woman a hindrance to true spirituality. 
There is no mystery about this final revelation, and there is no room, 
therefore, for wonder and awe. Here are no "long-drawn aisles 
and fretted vaults"; the Scientist's outlook on the spiritual world 
is as plain and bare as the walls of his temple, shining white under 
the abundant radiance of the electric lamps, i 

Christian Science in its ethics is a form of hedonism. 
Having * 'denied'* the body, it nevertheless gives much of 
its time and thought to this same fictitious body, soothing 
it into comfort and keeping it in a pleasant condition. 
After all their talk against it, the followers of this cult 
appear to be more concerned with the flesh than with the 
spirit. It is a shallow gospel that goes little deeper than 

^ Mesmerism and Christian Science, p. 282. 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 265 

the very body they affect to disown. Christian Scientists 
make much of their cheerfulness, exploiting it as though 
they had got rid of all worry and were cheerful 
above other people, but we know from personal ex- 
perience that their cheerfulness is sometimes affected, 
kept up as an outer appearance in spite of their inner 
state, proclaiming themselves to be perfectly well and 
comfortable when they are obviously in pain and are ill 
and weak to the point of exhaustion. So their comfort 
is sometimes artificial and false, and at its best it is often 
a smug self-complacency which we would think would 
satiate and nauseate a healthy virile soul. Such was the 
reaction of the man who, when asked why he had left 
Christian Science, declared that he "got tired of being so 
monotonously happy." 

This shallow hedonistic philosophy will not stand the 
test of logic and of experience. This world is not a play- 
ground and life is not a picnic. Comfort is not the con- 
science of the soul. Happiness is not the chief end of 
man. While pleasure is a motive that enters widely into 
our aims and activities, yet it is not the supreme ideal and 
pursuit that fundamentally governs our lives. Duty is a 
star that holds the human soul to its course when pleasure 
falls as a meteor out of the sky. In fact, when we do 
seek comfort as our immediate aim we are likely to miss 
it and meet with disappointment. No people are so apt 
to be discontented and miserable as those who make the 
pursuit of pleasure the chief business of life. The way 
to get pleasure is to forget it. Pleasure is the music 
that floats off the harp of life when it is kept in tune and 
properly played, and it is our business to attend to the 
harp and let the music come of itself; and its music will 



266 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

not all be pure harmony and sweet melody, it will not 
always soothe us with pleasant songs, for the harp of 
life sometimes yields minor chords and is swept with 
storms of agony. 

God is not simply nursing us in comfort in this world. 
He is not merely rocking babies, but making men. The 
world is made of sterner stuff and life is confronted with 
greater and graver issues than health and comfort. 
Health is not holiness. Plato and Socrates, Isaiah and 
Paul, Luther and Lincoln never thought of comfort, and 
the Son of God was made perfect through suffering and 
came to the very culmination and climax of his glory on 
the cross. 

S. THE APPEAL OF IDEALISM 

Christian Science, as we have seen, is a form of idealism. 
It is an ignorant and spurious form, as it declares that 
matter is a baseless delusion which is to be rooted out of 
the mind, whereas philosophical idealism does not deny 
the reality of matter but affirms its true nature and 
existence as a form and manifestation of mind. Mrs. 
Eddy appears to have fallen into this mistake as to the 
nature of matter according to idealistic philosophy through 
pure misimderstanding or ignorance of the subject. And 
her position on this point was a needless defiance of 
common sense, for her system would have worked better 
without this notion, and in fact it was this initial absurdity 
that involved her in most of her contradictions and 
hopeless confusions. A straight-out system of idealism 
or of pantheism can be consistently carried through, but 
her system, that was based on the nonreality of matter 
and yet had to deal with matter at every point, was 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 267 

vitiated by an inner self-contradiction and absurdity that 
was bound to wreck it. 

But few of the followers of Mrs. Eddy know, any more 
than she did, what philosophical idealism is and that her 
conception and system of philosophy is ignorant and 
absurd. Yet idealism, however false it may be in form, 
makes a strong and fascinating appeal to the human 
mind. It seems to discard the flesh and appeal to the 
spirit, and this strikes a responsive chord in the soul and 
wakes up its noblest music. It is true that Christian 
Science is inconsistent in that it affects to deny and 
despise the flesh and yet in practice it is keen enough in 
its appreciation and pursuit of the comforts and satis- 
factions of the body and of all material things, especially 
money. But the human mind has an immense capacity 
for inconsistency, whatever its philosophical or religious 
creed, though it is evident that Christian Scientists have 
much more than their proper share of this aptitude. But 
with all its inconsistencies and impossibilities. Christian 
Science strikes the high note of idealism, and this appeals 
to this age, if only in reaction to its materialism. This is 
one of its attractions and virtues and must be set down to 
its credit, though it must also be corrected. 

Professor Riley has also noticed this attraction of 
Christian Science. On this point he says: 



Christian Science as immaterialism has had, as a prepared soil 
the previous American idealism. If a mental isothermal line could 
be drawn for such a phenomenon, it would begin in Massachusetts, 
stretch to that historic projection of New England — the Western 
Reserve — and continue on with the latter's prolongation into 
Illinois. This, it would likewise be noted, was the path of Puritan- 
ism; westward the course of Calvinism took its way, and on this 
same path, seeking his audiences among those of New England stock. 



268 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Emerson brought to the winners of the West the message that "the 
spiritual principle should be suffered to demonstrate itself to the 
end."l 

We have already dug into the subsoil of Christian 
Science, and have found that the system still carries 
with it some of the varied and strange forms of idealism 
out of which it grew. 

4. THE APPEAL OF LIBERAL REVOLT 

Christian Science has in no small degree profited by 
revolt against conventionalized religion toward liberal 
thinking. Orthodox religion is ever in danger of crystal- 
lizing into rigid lifeless forms, or of going to seed and drying 
up into empty husks that have little nourishment and repel 
some minds so that they revolt from it. We have 
noted the fact that nearly all Christian Scientists have 
come out of the membership or out of the training 
of the orthodox churches, and in some degree they 
have been carried away by this centrifugal tendency. 
They simply lost interest in the old churches and were 
ready to be caught by some wind of doctrine that 
promised a fresh breeze and breath of air. Mere novelty 
has in it an attraction and charm for superficial people 
that have no deep convictions and fixed principles. 

Again to quote Professor Riley: 

The new gospel of mental medicine is also a system of philosophy. 
"Hopelessly original," as Mrs. Eddy calls it, the system appeals to 
those who are inclined to novelties. Tired of the dry doctrines of 
the churches, to most beginners in speculation, unacquainted with 
the history of the schools. Christian Science has all the air of dis- 
covery. Now such persons, who have, at least, the merit of thinking 

1 American Thought from Puritanism to Pragmatism, p. 46. 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 269 

for themselves, are found chiefly in cities, and the acknowledged 
preponderance of urban over rural adherents is explained by a 
third factor, that of freethinking or a liberal attitude toward the 
unconventional. In the little town it is notoriously difficult to 
break from the dogma of the local churches; it does not approve of 
changes in ecclesiastical caste. Freethinking is therefore a potent 
factor in the spread of Christian Science. The map of distribution 
by States discloses this. Connecticut and New Jersey, with con- 
servative colleges like Yale and Princeton, are far below the average 
of their liberal neighbors. It is not so in Massachusetts, that 
hotbed of heresies; not in Illinois, with its mixture of foreign faiths; 
nor in Colorado, early home of woman suffrage; nor lastly in Cali- 
fornia, pervaded with esoteric Buddhism and the doctrine of Maya — 
of the world of sense as shadow of illusion. ^ 



Though Christian Science is a pretentious and fallacious 
system of philosophy that has no standing or respect 
in the schools, yet this very aspect of it has been an at- 
traction for a certain type of unschooled and superficial 
minds. The vague mystic ideas, the strange doctrines, 
the claim and appearance of being a new * 'revelation," 
the peculiar catchwords and phrases of its jargon, and 
especially the great swelling, sonorous polysyllables, even 
such uncouth words as "allness" and ''somethingness," 
and the rolling, reverberating sentences have a kind of 
hypnotic effect, fascinating and attracting minds not given 
to careful attention and reflective thought, as bright 
electric lights attract swarms of summer flies and moths. 
It is a fashionable thing in some quarters to be philo- 
sophical and up-to-date in '*new thought" and use affected 
speech, and the high-flown language and esoteric parlance 
of this cult have supplied some people with ''a long-felt 
want." This is the kind of thing that is liked by those 
that like this kind of thing. 

1 American Thought^ p. 45. 



270 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

5. THE APPEAL OF RELIGION 

The strongest attraction of Christian Science, next to 
that of health, is that of rehgion. Man is incorrigibly 
religious and his soul will ever crave satisfaction for this 
deep need and cry; and if it cannot find, or if it turns 
away from, the true bread it will feed on husks. Christian 
Science is a religion, and this fact has given it entrance 
into many lives. Its very name is artfully contrived to 
make a popular appeal. The word ''Christian" is in- 
tended to declare that it is a form of Christianity, and 
it makes a great show of honoring Christ and the Bible. 
Many if not most Christian Scientists and the public 
in general suppose that it is only another form of the Chris- 
tian religion as one denomination differs from another in 
some unessential if not imimportant variation. Why, 
then, are not its followers Christians, and why not join the 
Christian Science church as well as any other church.^ The 
fact that it is a pantheistic religion that cuts up true faith 
and worship by the roots, that it flatly contradicts Christ 
and Scripture and boldly brands the Bible when it differs 
from itself as a "lie,"i that it perverts all Scriptural 
and Christian words to utterly different meanings and 
uses, that it subverts the whole Christian system, is 
either unknown or unrealized by Christian Scientists, or 
else, if they do understand this, they accept the system 
in all its anti-Christian teaching and spirit. 

The name "science" is another attractive word, for 
what can be more trustworthy and honorable and authori- 
tative in this scientific age than "science"? The fact 
that the word "science" in this system, like the word 

1 **It must be a lie": Science and Health in its comment on Gen 

2:7. 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 271 

"Christian/' is used in a peculiar sense and is only one 
of the characteristic terms of Christian Science jargon, 
a sense that is utterly contradictory to and subversive 
of the whole system of true science, is again either un- 
known to Christain Scientists or else they accept it in 
its absurdity. 

Mrs. Eddy used these two words, "Christian" and 
"science," as floats to buoy up her system, or as wings 
to enable it to fly, or as a bait to conceal the true nature 
of her mixture of pantheism and spurious idealism and 
false science so as to lure and catch unsuspecting followers, 
and in this she was exceedingly clever and succeeded 
beyond her utmost dreams. Yet in spite of all this 
falsity and absurdity Christian Science does appeal to 
the religious nature of the soul and affords it some satis- 
faction. We do not deny that, as in some degree it does 
restore people to health, so in some measure it does 
satisfy the religious yearning of the heart. God can get 
some divine light to a sincere soul even through the 
dense dark medium of an idol, and can get considerable 
light through the twilight of pagan faiths into humble 
souls. We do not and dare not restrict his grace and 
exclude it from any form or profession of worship. We 
wish to Christian Scientists all the blessing they can 
receive from their faith. But we must judge it by the 
standard of truth and Scripture, and so judged we cannot 
but believe that at many points the light that is in it 
is darkness. 

The strongest appeal in the religious theory of Christian 
Science is its doctrine of the "allness" of God, which, 
excluding its pantheistic implications, in a measure 
corresponds with the philosophical and Christian doctrine 



272 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

of the immanence of God. The orthodox view of God 
has sometimes made the impression of a distant absentee 
deity, remote from human affairs and especially from 
our personal needs, as he sits on some far-oflE throne and 
rules over the great transcendent laws and activities of 
the universe. Such a God is too inaccessible for us to 
feel his presence, and the very thought of such a vague 
and shadowy being may give us a chill and leave us 
cold. Mrs. Eddy teaches the "allness" of God, the one 
and only Being that includes us all and in whom we live; 
and his very presence excludes evil and fills us with good. 
This brings God near and makes him warm, wraps us 
around with his Spirit and makes him all in all in our 
thoughts and lives. There is a great truth and immense 
help and attraction in this view of God, and, next to the 
appeal of health, it is the chief value and asset of Christian 
Science. 

This is simply the Scriptural and Christian doctrine 
that in God *Ve live, and move, and have our being,'* 
which we shall emphasize later. Unfortunately, however. 
Christian Science as usual perverts this truth into pan- 
theism that fuses man with God, obliterating all real 
distinction between them, and effaces the personality 
of God, degrading him to "Principle," and then God, 
in any religious sense and value, is gone, and both God 
and man are merged and lost in the vast dark abyss of 
impersonal fate. In the world of religion there is no 
harder stone and no more poisonous serpent than this view. 

Christian Science thus has a fivefold appeal and attrac- 
tion of health, comfort, idealism, novelty, and religion, 
and these are the grounds of its popularity and success. 
We have admitted the element of truth in each of these, 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 273 

but also shown how this system has perverted them into 
dangerous error, though it has sugar-coated them so as 
to conceal their poison and deceive the ill-informed and 
unwary. 

6. THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Prophesying is perilous. Mark Twain tried his hand 
at the business on Christian Science, and he fared badly. 
Though he belabored Mrs. Eddy and all her works so 
savagely and sarcastically, yet her cult had a kind of 
fascination for him and he returned to it again and again 
in writing the articles that make up his book. He was 
under a spell or obsession as to Christian Science and 
thought it was destined to become one of the great re- 
ligions of the world. Writing in 1899 he prophesied as 
follows : 

It is a reasonably safe guess that in America in 1920 there will be 
ten million Christian Scientists, and three millions in Great Britian; 
that these figures will be trebled in 1930; that in America in 1920 
the Christian Scientists will be a political force, in 1930 politically- 
formidable, and in 1940 the governing power of the Republic — to 
remain that, permanently. And I think it a reasonable guess that 
the Trust (which is already in our day pretty brusque in its ways) 
will then be the most insolent and unscrupulous and tyrannical 
politico-religious master that has dominated a people since the 
palmy days of the Inquisition.^ 

This prophecy, that seemed extremely extravagant 
and even open to ridicule when it was made, has utterly 
failed. Instead of there being thirteen millions of Christian 
Scientists in this year of 1920, there is probably not the 
one-hundredth part of this number, and, as we have seen, 
the flood is apparently at or near its high-water mark 

1 Christian Science, p. 72. 



274 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

and may be on the point of subsiding. What Mark 
Twain says about the Trust being autocratic is true 
enough, as we have also seen, but no one has any fear of 
its dominating the government and mastering the world. 
Such autocracy contains within itself the seeds of revolt 
and of its own dissolution, and this process appears to 
be now going on. 

A significant fact in the history of Christian Science 
is that the system early began to break up into divisive 
groups and sects and has aheady been prolific in an as- 
tonishing number of them. It is so lacking in the co- 
herency and binding unity of rationality and attracts to 
itself so many peculiar people of aberrant minds and 
emotional temperaments and erratic individualities, it 
contains so many seeds of internal disharmony and dis- 
solution, that it is sure to develop its own dissent and 
disruption. The terrible tyranny of Mrs. Eddy served 
to hold it together against all rebellion in her lifetime and 
still acts as a suppressive and unifying influence, but it 
could not wholly prevent revolt and secession in her day 
and is likely to grow less effective in the future as her 
personality recedes and others come forward. 

Mr. Horatio W. Dresser, in his recent ''History of the 
New Thought Movement," 1919, gives an account of 
many of these divisive movements. Speaking of ''Science 
and Health," he writes as follows: 



If we are to see any purpose at all in the publication of that book, 
we may venture to say that it had value in arousing people out of 
their materialism. The results of the past forty years apparently 
justify this statement, for to those of us who have known former 
Christian Scientists as they came one by one out of their radical 
into more reasonable views it has been plain that something like 
"Science and Health" was needed to set matters in motion. The 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 275 

first reaction was against the "revelator" and the claims made in 
behalf of a supposed "revelation." The second was against the 
theory contained in "Science and Health," which had served for 
the time to provoke thought. Just as the earlier readers of Mrs. 
Eddy's book took fundamental exception to it, so increasing numbers 
have departed from her organization to set up for themselves, 
meanwhile keeping such ideas as had proved of value. In due 
time the last Christian Scientist will probably take leave in the 
same way. In retrospect people will then wonder why such a 
reaction did not occur long before.^ 

The author has already given an account of the schisms 
of 1881 and of 1888, and of the secession of Mrs. Wood- 
bury and of Mrs. Stetson. 2 Mrs. Stetson, after her ex- 
pulsion from the Christian Science church by Mrs. Eddy 
as an increasingly dangerous rival, set up an establish- 
ment in her own home in New York, where she is still 
carrying on a system of mental healing. 

Out of Christian Science has now come the very thing 
that Mrs. Eddy feared and took every precaution and 
desperate means to prevent, namely, division and rival 
sects. It was to stop the very possibility of this that she 
made her textbook ''the Pastor over The Mother Church'* 
"on this planet," without the possibility of change until 
the end of time, and would not allow her readers to say a 
word of their own in the church service, or any officer, 
lecturer, or member to write or speak on the subject of 
Christian Science except as such statements were sub- 
mitted to and approved by her own board in Boston. 
She also tried, as we have seen, very rigidly to control and 
restrict the books she permitted her followers to read. 
Nevertheless, in spite of all such precautions and re- 
strictions, out of the bosom of Christian Science have 

1 Pages 127, 128. 

2 Chapter VIII, Section 2. 



276 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

issued sect after sect that are now practically rival 
denominations. 

Among these new forms and organizations of mental 
healing are bodies that call themselves **Reformed Chris- 
tian Science/^ which was founded in 1912, **Divine 
Science," and "Science of Being." But their number and 
names are legion, and space would not permit even a 
catalogue of their names. These separated bodies 
generally revolt against the absurdities and crudities of 
Mrs. Eddy, especially her claim to divine inspiration and 
revelation, her theory of the nonreality of matter, her 
pantheism, and her other ignorant and nonsensical notions. 
Mr. Dresser quotes Mr. F. L. Rawson, of London, "whose 
teaching is almost identical with Christian Science without 
the claims ordinarily made in behalf of Mrs. Eddy,'* as 
saying: 

To-day there are many millions of mental workers, containing 
some fifty or sixty schools. Only four or five of these work on the 
basis that Jesus did, namely, by turning in thought to God. The 
remainder work in the same way as the sorcerers and witches of the 
past and the black magic workers and hypnotists to-day, namely, 
with the human mind. This means that they use one or other of 
the five different forms of hypnotism, all of which are more or less 
harmful, not only to the patient, but to the practitioner. ^ 

Many of these movements have been led by individuals 
who became possessed of and obsessed with some peculiar 
idea or strange notion and founded a society or started a 
magazine to propagate it; and many of these mind healers 
went off into "theosophy," *'Babism," and all the wild 
and weird dreams of Hindu pantheism and Oriental 
"thought." Of course many of these strange cults were 

1 History, p. 265. 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 277 

short-lived and were dead almost before they were born, 
strangled by their own absurdity, but they help to swell 
the number of these variations and splinters of Christian 
Science. These movements and societies have sprung up 
most thickly along the track that Christian Science 
followed, the fortieth degree of latitude, '*the richest 
pay streak of our civilization," running from Massachu- 
setts through Illinois and Colorado to California, through 
the regions of wealth and luxury and leisure, of cities and 
high-tension living, of nervous aflfections and health 
resorts, and they have been most prolific in "California 
the natural home of New Thought/* An astonishing 
number of ephemeral magazines were born to live their 
little lives in propagation of these new ideas, bearing such 
titles as The Metaphysical Magazine, Practical Ideals, 
Mind, Unity, The Revealer, The Healer, The Truth 
Seeker, Eternal Progress, Power, Harmony, and Im- 
mortality. "Of the sixty or more miscellaneous publi- 
cations," says Mr. Dresser, "standing for various phases 
of the movement only a very few remain. Meanwhile, 
some of the leading publications, such as Unity, Nautilus, 
and Master Mind, have grown in circulation and have 
taken the place of dozens of magazines which once ex- 
isted."! 

All these movements have sprung up in some degree as 
rivals of Christian Science and have grown at its expense. 
They have occupied the same soil and fed upon the same 
sustenance and drawn nourishment and strength away 
from it. Christian Science is being checked and devi- 
talized if not devoured by its own children. Protes- 
tantism against it has broken out in its own bosom in 

1 History, pp. 315. 316. 



278 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

many forms and reforms, and revolt may yet prove its 
ruin. Disintegration is at work. 

Besides all this opposition springing up within itself. 
Christian Science is encountering increasing criticism from 
without. At first and for many years it attracted little 
attention and was practically let alone as only another 
harmless vagary by a visionary dreamer that would soon 
pass away if left to itself. Serious people did not take it 
seriously. But when it did not wither and die but grew 
vigorously and multiplied prolifically and spread widely, 
observers and students of it began to *'sit up and take 
notice." Metaphysicians and psychologists, ministers and 
physicians and lawyers, professors and newspaper reporters 
and magazine writers set about the work of investigating it 
and writing articles and books in which they exposed its 
real origin and doctrines and practices. These revelations 
were startling to the general public and were surprising if 
not disillusionizing news even to many Christian Scien- 
tists. This literature against the system has accumu- 
lated and is still growing. It is based on facts that are 
the result of patient and honest and thorough investi- 
gation, conducted in a purely scientific spirit, and it is 
backed up with dociunents, photographs, facsimiles, 
affidavits, and the testimony of many witnesses who had 
personal knowledge of the matter. 

It is difficult to think that Christian Science can per- 
manently withstand all this light and logic. Truth gets 
the better of error in the long run. Irrationality in time 
chokes and strangles itself. The more error and absurdity 
which any theory tries to carry, the more certainly will 
it break down and go to pieces. Christian Science is 
surely so burdened with absurdities that it cannot per- 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 279 

manently stand up. It may last a long time, but its 
doom will overtake it. It cannot fool even all Christian 
Scientists all the time. Even now the light of truth and 
common sense is slowly penetrating it.^ 

Mrs. Eddy took every precaution to guard her followers 
from this opposition both from within and from without. 
She tried to inoculate them so thoroughly with her own 
ideas and to protect them so rigidly from external con- 
tagion that they would be immune from all danger of in- 
fection. No such censorship as she established and en- 
forced was ever enacted and maintained by any despotism 
political or ecclesiastical. But such prohibition cannot be 
made effectual in this day of the press. Books and other 
literature are multiplying all the while, and are everywhere 
sowing the seeds of destruction to this system. All 
science and psychology, as well as true religion and sound 
morals, are against it. This knowledge is ever spreading 
silently and multitudinously as snowflakes fall out of the 
sky. It is sown in the very air. No one can arrest 
the spread of this knowledge any more than he can stop 
the wind or saber the sunlight to pieces. Some of this 
light cannot be prevented from penetrating the minds of 
Mrs. Eddy's followers and even from filtering through 
the windows of Christian Science churches. The marble 
walls of The Mother Church itself may not be wholly 
opaque! Heresy has broken out time and again in the 
very bosom of this church, and it may do so again in a 
more destructive form. Christian Scientists still have 



1 In a personal letter to the author from Horatio W. Dresser, he 
states that as a result of the Boston lawsuit he finds some of the 
leaders of Christian Science inquiring into the- facts of the origin 
and history and teaching of the system in a way that is significant. 



> 



280 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

eyes and ears in spite of their denial of them as mere 
mortal delusions, and they would have to shut them and 
stop them to escape this pervasive and insinuating knowl- 
edge. They cannot keep it from their children and make 
sure of the next generation; in fact, the next generation 
is pretty sure to revolt against the whole system. Every 
Christian Science church has its lapsed members, many 
have turned back from it who have seen the light and let 
their common sense rule them once more. Many who 
once turned from Christ to Christian Science have dis- 
covered how false it is to his teaching and spirit and that 
it has no right to his name. 

How long this system will last, no one knows, but the 
author feels confident that in time, it may be a long time, 
it will wither away. It cannot live in the world of our 
modern science and philosophy. It is at war not only 
with the Christian Church but equally with the common 
school and college and university. If it is right, then all 
our scientific knowledge is wrong; but if our orthodox 
science is going to stay, then Christian Science must go. 
These two are not agreed but are diametrically and hope- 
lessly opposed to each other, and they cannot walk to- 
gether or live in the same house or breathe the same air. 

Horatio W. Dresser, who has known Christian Science 
intimately from its early history and knows its present 
status as few other students know it, says of Mrs. Eddy 
that ^'increasing numbers have departed from her organi- 
zation'* and that ''in due time the last Christian Scientist 
will probably take leave in the same way. In retrospect 
people will then wonder why such reaction did not occur 
long before.'* 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 281 

7. SOME RECENT MIND-HEALING MOVEMENTS 

Among the many mind-healing movements that have 
spHt off from Christian Science or have sprung up in 
its wake two are worthy of special mention. These are 
not forms of or secessions from Christian Science in origin, 
but they are of aflSliated nature. 

(1) The first of these is the movement known as 
"New Thought." The name lends itself to ironic criticism 
if not ridicule as being neither ''new" nor ''thought," 
and the infelicity of the title has been felt and acknowl- 
edged by some of the leaders of this school, but it is 
a survival out of a number of competitors such a* "Higher 
Thought" and "Advanced Thought." 

The movement dates back to Quimby and thus sprung 
from a common source with Christian Science, though 
it has none of the philosophic vagaries and absurdities 
of Mrs. Eddy's cult. Rev. W. F. Evans taught some of 
its ideas, and other leaders of the school were at times 
more or less closely associated with Christian Science, 
but the movement in time swung clear of the latter 
system and has no relations with it. The first writer 
to use the capitalized phrase "New Thought" was Dr. 
W. F. Holcombe in 1889. In 1895 Mr. C. B. Patterson 
pubhshed a volume entitled "What Is the New Thought.^" 
Henry Wood has been a prolific author on the subject, 
his "Symphony of Life" appearing in 1901, and Ralph 
Waldo Trine has been another voluminous writer, his 
well-known "In Tune with the Infinite" appearing in 
1898. 

The most prominent leader and teacher, however, of 
New Thought is Horatio W. Dresser, Ph. D., who is the 
author of many books on the subject and whose recent 



282 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

"History of the New Thought Movement" is the fullest 
and most authoritative account of this school. This 
volume shows how widespread is this movement, what 
are its leading ideas, how various are its manifestations, 
and how abundant is its literature. The fundamental 
idea of New Thought is the primary reality and supremacy 
of the inner spiritual life as dominant over the outer 
life of the body and the world. As to mind healing the 
system emphasizes the power of the mind over the body 
and uses suggestion, autosuggestion, and afl&rmation as 
the means of intensifying the recuperative energies of 
the body and eradicating disease. It has no part nor lot 
with Christian Science in denying the reality of matter 
and of sin and suffering and is in sympathy with Chris- 
tianity. 

The author asked Dr. Dresser to give a brief account of 
the teaching of this movement and he has contributed to 
this volume the following statement: 

WHAT THE NEW THOUGHT STANDS FOR 

The New Thought is a practical philosophy of the inner life in 
relation to health, happiness, social welfare, and success. Man as a 
spiritual being is living an essentially spiritual life, for the sake 
of the soul. His life proceeds from within outward, and makes for 
harmony, health, freedom, efficiency, service. He needs to realize 
the spiritual truth of his being, that he may rise above all ills and 
all obstacles into fullness of power. Every resource he could ask 
for is at hand, in the omnipresent divine wisdom. Every individual 
can learn to draw upon divine resources. The special methods of 
the New Thought grow out of this central spiritual principle. Much 
stress is put upon inner or spiritual concentration and inner control, 
because each of us needs to become still to learn how to be affirmative, 
optimistic. Suggestion or affirmation is employed to banish ills and 
errors and establish spiritual truth in their place. Silent or mental 
treatment is employed to overcome disease and secure freedom and 
success. The New Thought then is not a substitute for Christianity, 
but an inspired return to the original teaching and practice of the 
gospels. It is not opposed to the churches, but aims to make religion 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 283 

immediately serviceable and practical. It is not hostile to science 
but wishes to spiritualize all facts and laws. It encourages each 
man to begin wherever he is, however conditioned, whatever he may 
find to occupy his hands; and to learn the great spiritual lessons 
taught by this present experience. 

It will be noted that Dr. Dresser affirms the New 
Thought is not a substitute for Christianity but a return 
to the gospels, and other writers of this school are quoted 
to the same effect in his "'History." "The clear province 
of the New Thought school of writers and teachers is not 
the abrogation of any Christian principles, but rather to 
give a better interpretation to those principles, consonant 
with truth, righteousness and health.'* Yet New Thought 
is affiliated with ''Liberal Christianity" and has small 
affinity or sympathy with orthodox doctrines. It denies 
or at least greatly minimizes original sin and affirms the 
the natural divinity of man and aims at arousing and 
raising his inner resources to their highest power. It is 
not a doctrine and system of divine redemption but of 
himaan self-realization. 

The New Thought movement finds expression in several 
magazines as well as in a large literature, and it has 
become organized in many local associations, usually 
called New Thought "centers" or "churches," in the 
National New Thought Alliance and in the International 
New Thought Congress. It flourishes chiefly in the 
"richest pay streak of our civilization" that follows the 
fortieth degree of latitude from Massachusetts to Cali- 
fornia. 

(2) The Emmanuel Church Movement was inaugurated 
in 1906 in Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Boston by 
its rector. Dr. Elwood Worcester, and several associ- 
ates, especially Dr. Samuel McComb and Isador H. 



284 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Coriat, M. D.^ The object of the movement was and is 
to meet Christian Science on its own ground and restore 
to the Christian Church the heaUng ministry which 
Christianity practiced in the first three Christian centuries. 
The movement, so far from disowning or disparaging the 
place of medicine and the physician in the treatment of 
disease, employs these agencies and does not at all attempt 
to treat all disease independently of them or by moral 
means alone; but it also emphasizes the part the mind 
plays in the healing of the body and utilizes them in its 
church clinics 

In answer to a request for a brief statement of his 
theory and practice Dr. Worcester sent the following: 

We have gone so far in our denial of the soul as a factor of health 
and disease that our treatment of the sick has become almost 
entirely material from which we try to exclude religion altogether. 
If we look no further than the success of the treatment and the 
recovery of the patient, this is a great mistake. William James said: 
**I regard as one of the most certain facts of medicine that prayer is 
beneficial to the sick." The two parts of human nature cannot be 
separated so rudely without great harm to both patient and physician. 
In every form of disease the moral condition of the patient counts 
for much, as is proved by the fact that defeated armies always 
suffer more from wounds and illness than victorious armies, while in 
almost all forms of psychical and nervous disturbance, physical 
treatment, apart from ensuing wholesome conditions of life, counts 
for little and psychical and spiritual treatment alone can be counted 
on for results. As Emmanuel has done more than any other Church 
in Christendom to follow the example of the early Church in a manner 
consistent with the science and culture of our times, I feel privileged 
to speak freely on this subject. 

1 These three men were the joint authors of their well-known book 
entitled Religion and Medicine: The Moral Control of Nervous Dis- 
orders, 1908, which is still one of the most important contributions 
to this subject. The same authors and two other associates have 
since brought out jointly or singly the following books which belong 
to the literature of this school: Abnormal Psychology, What Is 
Psychoanalysis? The Christian Religion as a Healing Power, The 
Living Word, The Re-making of a Man, and Religious Aspects of 
Scientific Healing, 



THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 285 

Our work has been going on steadily for nearly fourteen years. 
During this time a great procession of people have passed through 
our church, coming from all Christian bodies, including a good 
many Roman Catholics and also a good many Jews. We have 
done this work at the cost of a good deal of time and effort without 
any charge, though we have expected persons of means to contribute 
to the work in order that we might be free to extend it to the poor, 
and to provide them with methods of treatment which are frequently 
costly, such as the care of specialists, sojourns in hospitals, sanatoria, 
etc., the payment of oculists, dentists, etc. In short our work is 
based on common sense. For many years we maintained a depart- 
ment for the treatment of victims of alcohol and morphine and 
other habit-forming drugs, but since prohibition has become a fact 
our services are much less frequently called on for this type of case. 
Our work has grown slowly and is represented in several other 
cities by good and worthy men. We have confined our work to 
the field of the neuroses and psychoses as this is the field in which 
all forms of psychotherapy are to be regarded as independent 
remedial agencies, but we have frequently co5perated with physicians 
and surgeons in bringing relief to their patients in facilitating their 
recovery, helping them to an improved moral and spiritual condition. 

No exception can be taken to this work from either a 
medical or a religious point of view, and it sets a worthy- 
example for more service of this kind in all our churches. 
It should be remembered, however, that our churches are 
doing this work in a large way through hospitals and other 
public and private remedial agencies that are so generally 
supported by the churches and that are predominately 
Christian institutions and are virtually extensions of the 
Christian Church. Religion and medicine, that once were 
imited in one person and institution, are now divided and 
distributed among specialists, and yet both the minister 
and the physician remain Christian and are doing the 
work of Christianity. Dr. Worcester himself recognizes 
and emphasizes this fact in one of his sermons as follows: 

It cannot be said that Christians in modern times have neglected 
the care of the sick. In this country and in every progressive 
country throughout Christendom splendid free hospitals have been 



286 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

erected, well supplied with devoted nurses and furnished with 
every equipment for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Young 
physicians frequent these hospitals as part of their medical education. 
Great and famous physicians and surgeons serve in them, without 
compensation and with a most unselfish expenditure of time and 
effort. 

There were no such institutions for the treatment of 
disease in ancient times or in the early Christian 
centuries, and we may venture to assert that Christianity 
through these and other institutions as well as through 
its direct ministry of helpfulness and cheer is doing im- 
mensely more for the sick and the poor in our day than it 
did or could do in its early history. Yet there is a call 
that the churches should give more attention and service 
to this field of human need, and Emmanuel Church has 
made an important contribution to this problern.l 

1 For a "Review of the Emmanuel Movement," giving "Points 
in Favor of the Emmanuel Movement," and "Points Against the 
Emmanuel Movement," see E. E. Weaver, Mind and Health, pp. 
291-310. 



CHAPTER XI 
OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 

We should always learn from the opposition. It may 
be protesting against some error in our position which 
we should correct, or emphasizing some aspect of truth 
which we have obscured or lost. As there is always a soul 
of good in things evil, so is there always some truth in 
error which gives it its vitality and growth and which we 
should see and seize and use. A movement, however 
wrong it may seem or be, always has some ground of 
justification, otherwise it could not move or even stand 
up. Rebellions are usually reactions against wrong which 
they are trying to set right. Reforms are restorations. 
Reformations are re-formations. We sometimes must go 
backward in order to go forward. When we have lost old 
truths we should recover them and make them new. We 
should not be in the least ashamed or reluctant to rec- 
ognize and accept any truth in the possession of an op- 
ponent which we do not have, but should be quick and 
glad to adopt and proclaim it. 

Christian Science must have large elements of truth 
or it would never have attained its present standing and 
wide acceptance, and we have been conceding this fact 
all the way through this study. There are *'lost truths" 
in our Christianity which we need to recover and restore 
to their full force and fruitfulness. The old truths we 
are about to emphasize have not been wholly lost, but 

287 



288 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

they have in some degree fallen into the background and 
are not receiving their due emphasis, and Christian Science 
has seized and claimed them as its peculiar principles 
and then capitalized them as its popular and powerful 
assets. But they really belong to orthodox Christianity 
and always have belonged to it in their true form and force, 
though at times they have been obscured in the con- 
sciousness of orthodox Christians. They are set forth 
in the Bible all the way through it, and we should cultivate 
and exemplify them in their fullest degree and finest 
fruitage. 

What are some of these old truths that should be 
newly emphasized? 

1. THE SUPREMACY OF THE SPIRITUAL 

Materialism is one of the greatest dangers of our life 
to-day. We do not refer to philosophical materialism, 
such as the crass doctrines of Biichner and Haeckel, for 
these are now so generally discredited in the world of 
thought that there is scarcely any so poor as to do them 
reverence. But practice may linger long after the theory 
of it is gone, and the practical materialism of the bodily 
life still persists and waxes lusty. The undue emphasis 
and value put upon business and bread, wages and profits, 
wealth and leisure and luxury, fashion and pleasure, 
position and power, whet up our bodily instincts and 
appetites to their keenest edge and make them fierce and 
aggressive. Probably more thought and effort are now 
given to the upkeep and comfort of the body than ever 
before. Life with many is a mad craving and search for 
pleasure, a constant itching for a new thrill. Multitudes 
would turn life into a picnic and moving-picture show 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 289 

with no higher thought than sensuous excitement. The 
soul is thus being drowned in a sea of sensations and the 
spirit sunk in the flesh. 

The materiaHstic Ufe has been greatly intensified by 
our modern science and marvelous machines which have 
had the effect of enormously extending and multiplying 
and refining our physical powers. The human body has 
outgrown the human soul, and from one point of view 
this is what is the matter with the world to-day. We 
are now armed with contrivances and powers by which 
we stride across continents and seas, take to the air on 
wings, prowl around, like terrible sharks, under the ocean, 
flash our thoughts and the very tones of our voice along 
telegraphic and telephonic wires and shoot them on wire- 
less waves through the ether around the globe. Our 
great guns and high explosives have extended the reach 
of our arms to sixty or seventy miles and multiplied the 
punch of the human fist a million times. Om* poisonous 
gases enable us to emit a deadly breath over wide areas 
that blasts every living thing. The human body has 
thus become, so to speak, a huge armored steel tank 
that goes lumbering along spitting fire and a leaden hail 
of death and trampling everything under its juggernaut 
wheels, with a little soul rattling around in it. Our science, 
like Frankenstein, has created a frightful monster which 
is now getting beyond our control and is crushing us in 
its steel arms. Steam and electricity, oil and gas, physics 
and chemistry are now our nimble servants and are making 
us masters of the earth and sea and sky. 

This overdeveloped human body also has an enormous 
appetite for wealth and pleasure and power. It is insati- 
able in its greed and is consuming everything in its way. 



290 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

It is whipping up our life into a hot pursuit and passion 
for wealth, sowing our industrial order with competition 
and injustice and strife, corrupting our politics, turning 
our social life into a mad whirl of pleasure and under- 
mining our morals. It has just devastated the world like 
a fearful monster breathing out fire and slaughter in a 
great war. It still threatens to upset the world and wreck 
our very civilization as it strides over ancient landmarks 
of law and order, right and duty, and crushes all things 
under its iron hoofs. 

Science and industry have also multiplied the comforts 
and luxuries of life so that they have wrapped the body 
in a swathe of softness which breeds effeminacy in the 
soul. Our fathers labored to conquer their hard con- 
ditions of life and bequeathed to us easy conditions that 
are now conquering us. They struggled in the bitter 
battle with scarcity which yet disciplined them in plain 
living and high thinking, but now we must struggle with 
the corrupting materialism of abundance which debilitates 
our nerves, relaxes our vigor and virtue, multiplies our 
temptations, and weakens our wills.- They wrestled 
against flesh and blood, but we must wrestle with spiritual 
hosts of wickedness and with vast doubts of which they 
never dreamed. 

This development of the human body was inevitable 
and has in it as great power for good as for evil, but the 
development of the soul has not kept pace with it and 
has fallen under its power. Our character and conscience 
are not equal to the control of our iron muscles and steel 
nerves throbbing with electricity. The material is mas- 
tering and smothering the spiritual, and we must now 
reverse this relation and put spirit on top, conscience 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 291 

in control. All these material forces and powerful ma- 
chines are splendid agencies of good when they are sub- 
ordinated to the spirit. 

The cure for and safeguard against this dangerous 
materialism is the recovery and emphasis of the spiritual. 
The soul is the primary and supreme reality and value 
of life, of which the body is only the shell and servant. 
The body is a good slave when kept in subjection, but a 
terrible master when it gains the ascendancy. Matter 
in some degree, controls the mind, but in an indefinitely 
greater degree mind masters matter. Biology is more 
and more coming to the conclusion that mind is the 
architectonic principle that builds the organism of the 
body. The brain does not secrete mind, but mind carves 
the brain. We have seen how at times the mind may be 
kindled into such intensity that it will burn right through 
the body and melt and mold it to its purpose. The 
philosophy of idealism asserts this supremacy of the 
spiritual, and we should translate this true idealism into 
life and conduct. 

The call of the age and of the hour is for a revalua- 
tion of our goods, a replacing of the emphasis of life. 
A truth that we need to have stamped on all our 
standards and burnt into our consciousness and conscience 
is, "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of 
the things which he possesseth." We need to transfer the 
standard of value and the emphasis of life from the 
outer to the inner, from outer wealth to inner worth, 
from outer position to inner disposition, from the 
flesh to the spirit. Peace and power have their true 
throne and scepter in the soul and not in the world. 
The soul should have large and rich inner resources 



292 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

that are its real treasure and satisfaction, joy and 
happiness, so that it will carry its own comfort around 
with it and be independent of external circumstances 
and vicissitudes. It should have within itself a well 
of water springing up in a pure stream of life that has 
its source deeper than the world and is careless of its 
changing weather. The soul should be kindled into 
such a glow of thought and aspiration that it will shine 
through the flesh and transform and transfigure it. We 
should be so saturated with the spirit that it will purify 
and refine our vision, and then we shall see the whole 
world steeped in its splendor. "It is the transcendental 
or mystical sense, the sense of the Infinite, Idealism, call 
it what you will, that gives to life its glory and dignity. 
It gives an added sense of beauty to the world in which 
we live; it tends to deepen our spiritual experience; it 
makes us an instrument of good to our fellow men; above 
all it gives us peace for which the whole world is seeking." ^ 
By all the means of grace and education and by all 
the resolute strivings of the will we should arouse and 
inspire ourselves to "walk not after the flesh, but after 
the Spirit." Thus shall we recover the idealism which 
Christian Science to some extent has capitalized and re- 
store it to its real place and interpret it in its true meaning 
and develop it into its full power and fruitage. 

2. THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH 

"Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy 
Spirit?" Then the proper care of "our brother the body," 
as Saint Francis called it, is a part of our Christianity. 
The body is the physical basis of our life, even of our 

1 Oscar Kuhns, The Sense of the Infinite, p. 261, 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 293 

highest and finest spiritual life. "A man cannot be a 
saint/* it has been said, "a poet, or a lover unless he has 
recently had something to eat/* Soul and body are 
closely interwoven into a vital unity and mutually and 
profoundly affect each other. Religion therefore has 
always been deeply interested in the health of the body, 
and, in fact, religion and medicine orginally were united 
in one science and art. A surprisingly large part of the 
ministry of Jesus had to do with the healing or the feeding 
of the body, twenty-six out of his thirty-three miracles 
being of this nature. "Gifts of healings" were possessed 
by the early Christians, and the exercise of this power 
was a prominent feature in the Christian life of the Apos- 
tolic Church. 

At times theories and practices have prevailed that 
viewed the body as a hindrance to religion — not as "the 
brother" but as the "ass" of the soul — to be subjected 
to all manner of ascetic deprivations and even abuse. 
But we have swung back to saner views and are rather in 
danger of going to the opposite extreme. "Health" and 
"wholeness" and "holiness" are only three variant 
spellings of the same word, and this fact indicates that 
these three things have close common roots and relations. 
"A sane mind in a sound body" is a true ideal. Sickness 
has some connection with sin, either directly by reason of 
personal violation of the laws of health, or indirectly 
through heredity or contagion, or bad sanitary and social 
conditions and racial history. Pains are penalties, and 
often this fact stares and stabs us in the face, though at 
other times the connection may be hidden under one or 
several generations; even every bitter tear drop has in it 
some sediment or tincture of sin. And yet also "pain is 



294 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

friendly," as Henry Wood said, meaning that it is a 
friendly warning or a means to greater good. Even the 
deadly microbe is a divine messenger for us to resist with 
the protective armor of vigorous health or to master and 
thereby rise to higher dominion, for ''He hath made every 
thing beautiful in its time/* We are challenged to meet 
all the germs and forms of disease, not by "denying'* 
them, but by recognizing their reality and penetrating 
into their condition and cause and overcoming them by 
the divinely appointed means. It is therefore a religious 
and Christian duty to get rid of illness and have that 
wholeness of body that is health arid contributes to the 
holiness of the soul. 

In fulfilling this duty there are appropriate and neces- 
sary means to be used. Primary and fundamental among 
these is obedience to the laws of health: the proper use of 
food and exercise, work and play, rest and recreation, sleep 
and fresh air and sunshine. These means also include 
medical science and art, for medicine is just as natural 
and necessary for disease as food is for health. In fact, 
medicine is a special kind of food which meets certain 
abnormal needs of the body as ordinary food meets its 
normal needs. Quinine and calomel are as truly products 
of nature and good gifts of God and as certainly have 
their uses for the body as wheat and rice and strawberries. 
The body in health is like a watch in good order: it then 
needs only regular winding or renewal of its energy, 
which corresponds with normal food for and care of the 
body. But when the watch has a broken spring or is 
otherwise out of order it requires the watchmaker, who 
corresponds with the physician and surgeon. The 
physician, then, is as divinely appointed to minister to 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 295 

the body in sickness as is the clergyman to minister to 
the soul in its sin. The two offices, which were once 
united in the same person, are now separated and each 
assigned to a specialist, but they both have a divine 
mission and we are to use the services of both in the 
restoration of the body and the soul from sickness and 
sin. 

The duty of health includes as a vital means the influ- 
ence of the mind on thh body. Mind healing, as has all 
along been admitted and seen, is a powerful curative agent. 
We should therefore have faith in the physician and in the 
means he uses for our recovery from disease; and we 
should especially strive to arouse and exercise a hopeful 
spirit and masterful will that will react on the body and 
help to drive out disease and generate health. The 
practice of cheerfulness and hope stimulates the curative 
and healthful forces of the body and raises the level and 
increases the volume of its vitality. "A cheerful heart 
is a good medicine'' (Pro v. 17:22). 

The gospel of health, in common with the gospel of 
holiness, includes prayer and faith in God. God is 
sovereign in the material as in the spiritual world and 
can answer prayer for recovery from disease and restora- 
tion to health as certainly as he can answer any other 
prayer. We do not say that he will do this by a miracle, 
but he can do it by the use of means, including the physi- 
cian's skill and medicines, and by his immediate control 
of the laws of nature without violating them. If man 
can in some degree control and cure disease, cannot God 
do the same in an infinitely more effective and perfect 
way? We do not need to understand just how God 
answers prayer in the case of disease, but this kind of 



296 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

prayer puts no undue or special strain on our faith, and 
we should unhesitatingly exercise it in childlike con- 
fidence. It does not follow, of course, that God will 
answer every such prayer by restoring the sick, for he 
may have wisely and kindly appointed otherwise. But 
we have a religious and rational right to appeal to him in 
sickness, and then leave the result with him.l 

We cannot here go into the question of how and how 
far the Church can undertake faith healing methods. We 
sympathize with the Emmanuel Movement of Dr. Wor- 
cester, but think such methods should be carefully 
guarded. It is not well for the minister to undertake 
work that lies beyond his field and special training, and 
he should know better than to intrude into the sphere of 
skilled medical art. Yet the Church can and should 
emphasize the duty of being well and can help to enforce 
the use of the means to this end and especially of right 
living and of the holiness that is so vitally connected with 
health. Churches are also now employing physicians and 
nurses as part of their ministry, especially among the poor. 

It is the special office of the Church to enjoin and 
practice faith and prayer in connection with disease and 
to raise all life into harmony with God. Religion is 
sanitation of the body as well as sanctification of the soul. 



1 The Report of the English "Clerical and Medical Committee on 
Spiritual Healing" made in April, 1914, the committee consisting of 
ten eminent clergymen and ten eminent medical authorities, says 
that they "desire to express their belief in the efficacy of prayer," 
and that "they consider that spiritual ministration should be recog- 
nized equally with medical ministration as carrying God's blessing 
to the sick," and they add, "Too often it has been forgotten that 
health, bodily and mental, is capable of being influenced for good 
by spiritual means." P. 15. 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 297 

and by fulfilling its duty more efficiently in this field the 
Christian Church will render another form of service 
which rightly belongs to it, but which Christian Science 
has sought to appropriate as though it were its own 
peculiar possession. "And the God of peace himself 
sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and 
body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of 
our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thess. 5:23). 

S, THE DUTY OF CHEERFULNESS 

To be saved is not to be sad. Some doctrines and prac- 
tices of religion have given the impression that it is. 
Asceticism reduced the body to the lowest terms in order 
to raise the soul to the highest power. And there is some 
truth in this theory. The body should always be kept 
in subordination to the soul, and it may be well at times 
to subject it to special discipline. Puritanism seemed to 
think that there was something divine in discomfort. 
Pleasure in all its forms and degrees was thought to be 
dangerous, and the only way to be safe was to be miserable. 
A heatless church in winter was supposed to be a means 
of grace. The Sabbath especially was made a day 
of restriction and harshness. Worldly activities and 
thoughts were banned, and the day was given over to 
religious exercises. To laugh or play was held to be a 
desecration of the sacred day, and sometimes the im- 
pression was given that even to smile was a sin. Re- 
ligion is rightly associated with reverence, but simply to 
look solemn is not to be sanctified. A long-faced visage 
is no proof of piety. John Foster long ago exposed this 
species of sanctimonious cant in his celebrated essay 



^98 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

"On Some Causes by which Evangelical Religion had been 
rendered unacceptable to Men of Cultivated Taste.'^ 

When we open the Bible we do not find this ascetic, 
somber, depressing religion, but the religion of cheerful- 
ness. "Serve the Lord with gladness** is a voice that 
rings through the Old Testament, and the New Testament 
is equally a book of joy. Joy was the first note in the 
angeFs song at Bethlehem, and the very word "gospel'* 
means "good news." Of Jesus himself it is said that he 
was "anointed . . . with the oil of gladness above thy 
fellows," that is, he was the gladdest man and most 
jubilant optimist that ever lived. Paul, writing farewell 
words to the Philippians and summing up and empha- 
sizing his most important message, says: "Finally, my 
brethren, rejoice in the Lord." Then a little later he 
says: "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say. Re- 
joice," thus iterating and reiterating this injimction and 
giving it a threefold repetition and emphasis. Joy is the 
very message and music of salvation. If we believe in 
God we shall have abiding confidence and hope and cheer 
in all conditions and in the darkest hour. God is not a 
God of gloom, but of sunshine and blue sky, flower blos- 
som and bird song. If we catch the light of his face it 
will make oiu* faces shine. A truly sanctified soul is the 
sweetest soul, full of peace and happiness. 

Cheerfulness can be cultivated. At this point the power 
of the mind over the body is again manifested, and the 
mastery of the will over the states of the soul and over 
its circumstances asserts itself. By simply looking sad 
we can feel sad and make others feel sad and can even 
make ourselves cry and shed copious tears. But by 
willing to be cheerful and putting on a pleasant smile. 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 299 

the heart can be quickened, gloom can be dissipated, 
and lively spirits will diffuse themselves through the whole 
soul and body. The practice of cheerfulness will in time 
beget a cheerful disposition and wreathe the face in smiles. 
Character carves the countenance. Our very face has 
been molded by all our thinking and feeling and "is the 
result," says Victor Hugo, "of a multitude of mysterious 
excavations." The face of Moses shone when he came 
down from communion with God on Sinai, and Jesus was 
transfigured on the mount when his divine glory was 
unloosed and permitted to stream through his flesh and 
steep it in splendor. In a weaker degree we may be 
molded and stamped by our habitual thoughts and moods 
until the inner peace and hope and cheer transfigure and 
shine through the face. 

A soiu', grumbling, morbid, miserable Christian is a 
self-contradiction. Piety has no affinity with pessimism. 
The way to get rid of such an evil spirit is to forget it. 
It can be banished by an act of will and by being busy in 
doing good. Work crowds out worry. Let us learn to 
see the bright side of things and cherish a cheerful spirit. 
Much of this morbid depression is due to a self-contained, 
selfish life. When we shut ourselves up within our own 
hearts we grow stagnant like a foul pool; but when we 
send our life outward in streams upon other lives like a 
fountain we keep pure and sweet. Let us sink the roots 
and springs of our life deep into God and live in his fellow- 
ship, and his blessedness will become our gladness. "Why 
art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou dis- 
quieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet 
praise him. Who is the health of my countenance and my 
God" (Ps. 42:11). 



300 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Christian Scientists make a point of '"denying" worry 
and being cheerful. Many have doubts whether they 
succeed in acquiring this grace better than other people, 
and personal experience with them has not removed these 
misgivings. But they have no monopoly of this grace or 
special means of acquiring it, and the deepest secret and 
source of peace and cheerfulness is not in "denying*' any 
of the realities of the world, but is faith in God in Christ. 
As we enter more fully into fellowship with him, his Spirit 
flows into us and fills us with his peace, and then we have 
a rational reason for and an unfailing spring of blessedness. 
*'And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the 
which also ye were called in one body ; and be ye thankful" 
(Col. 3:15). 

4. THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD 

There is a certain fascination about pantheism, and its 
charm appears to be due to the fact that it brings God 
near to us. A distant or absent God is fatal to human 
interest in him and to real religion as it puts him beyond 
our pale and reduces him to a cold proposition. But 
pantheism brings him near and immerses us in his im- 
mediate presence and warm life. The fatality of pan- 
theism, however, is that it brings God too near and merges 
man and God in one common impersonal abyss and fate, 
and this last state is worse than the first. 

The truth and attraction of pantheism are found in 
Christian theism in their full force and value without any 
such fatal defect or excess. The Bible brings God very 
near to us and yet not too near. It declares that God is 
not far from any one of us but is nigh us, even in our heart, 
so that we do not need to ascend into heaven or descend 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 301 

into hell or fly to the uttermost part of the earth to find 
him. Jehovah God created man in his own image and 
breathed into him his own divine breath. God is spirit 
and man is spirit, and thus they are of the same funda- 
mental nature and have deep common faculties and 
affinities which are the ground of their fellowship and of 
all religion. The divine immanence and the whole system 
of idealism is expressed in Paul's profound saying, **In 
him we live, and move, and have om* being." The 
Scriptures are pervaded with the doctrine of the divine 
immanence which makes the creation a visible mani- 
festation of his presence. 

'*God is here'' was a saying of Henry Wood, and it is a 
truly Christian saying. The practice of the presence of 
God means that we cherish and realize a sense of his 
presence in all things. The conception of nature as an 
enormous mass of matter and mighty machine interposes 
an opaque obstruction between God and us, but the 
Hebrew conception of nature as the immediate presence 
and will of God brings him near. Then the '^stormy 
wind" is his ''will," and the heavens a dome of many- 
colored glass through which his glory streams. "Earth's 
crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire 
with God." From this point of view we see the world 
saturated with God and we breathe his breath. The laws 
of nature are the laws of God's own life which we share 
as it pours through us. We then feel in nature a presence 
that disturbs us with a joy and have a sense 



Of something far more deeply interfused. 
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns. 
And the round ocean and the living air 
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man. 



302 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

Not only Wordsworth, the poet of nature, but all the 
great poets and prophets and mystics have had this 
sense of the Infinite that immerses the human spirit in 
God, puts a **new splendor on the grass,'' brings heaven 
near, and "makes all the earth enchanted ground." 

Providence is the presence of the immanent God in all 
things working out the divine plan and purpose. Prayer 
makes his presence more vital and vivid as it brings us 
into conscious personal communion with him and admits 
us into the secret place of the Most High, where we are 
still before him and are calmed into peace and receive 
suggestions of his will and come forth strong and brave 
to do and dare in his service. 

This divine immanence or mutual indwelling comes to 
its most intimate and finest expression in the relation of 
Christ and Christians. Christ gave the very formula of 
such mutual immanence in his prayer, "As thou. Father, 
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us." 
"Abide in me, and I in you." Paul elaborated the doctrine 
that Christ is in Christians, and Christians in Christ. "It 
is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me." More 
and more we learn to do all things as in his presence and 
for his sake, so that whether we eat or drink, buy or sell, 
pray or play, we do all for the glory of God. While not 
always conscious of his presence, yet we grow into a dis- 
position and habit of mind and heart that enable us to do 
his will as by an act of conscious obedience and fellow- 
ship. This divine immanence is the truth which Christian 
Science has exploited under the crude idea and name of 
the "allness of God," but which is of the very substance 
and heart of Christian faith. 

In proportion as we reaUze this divine immanence shall 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 303 

we see the world ablaze with God and be able to live in 
the light of his face. We shall then know that all things 
are the expression of his wisdom and will and are 
working together for our good. Our life will merge in 
his life in fellowship and obedience, love and joy. The 
flesh will melt into the spirit, and we shall live in the 
spirit. The world will dissolve into the splendor of God, 
and in his light we shall see light. As Dante expresses it, 
we shall live * 'where God immediate rules." 

The supremacy of the spiritual, the gospel of health, 
the duty of cheerfulness, and the practice of the presence 
of God are four principles that Christian Science has 
emphasized and in a degree capitalized and popularized, 
and in so doing it has rendered the world and the Christian 
Church a good service, in spite of the absurd philosophy 
and perverted Scripture which it has associated with 
them. It is these truths and not its errors that have 
given the system its vitality and growth. The Christian 
Church has not lost but it has in a measure obscured these 
truths so that they have not stood out as conspicuously 
and as helpfully in its teaching and practice as they 
should. Not a few people in our churches have more or 
less consciously felt this lack and have gone to where 
they thought they could find these satisfactions and 
where in a measure they have found them. This is why 
thousands have left our Christian churches and why on 
many an avenue their costly and generally well-filled 
Christian Science edifices stare us in the face. Those 
churches must be meeting some need which we have 
failed to satisfy. We should profit by our failure and set 
about restoring these truths to their full force and fruit- 
fulness. It is useless for us to berate or ridicule or even 



304 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

expose the fallacy and falsity of Christian Science unless 
we can ourselves do the work that it is doing. There is 
little hope of winning back the followers of this faith by 
mere logic, however convincing to us it may be, but if we 
can fully meet the needs that they are satisfying with 
their poor bread, then the fallacy and folly of their system 
will in time cause it to wither. These truths and satis- 
factions are inherent in the very substance of Christian 
faith where they are found in their rationality and purity 
unmixed with the error of Mrs. Eddy's cult. We have let 
Christian Science grow at the expense of the Christian 
Church because we have not done justice to these truths, 
and it has been able to give the impression that they are 
its peculiar possession and power. They have belonged 
from the beginning to Christian doctrine and living, and 
the church must show this and give them their rightful 
and full place and power in its teaching and life. 



The author's task is done. He has endeavored to tell 
the truth about Christian Science in a fair and not un- 
kindly spirit, setting down naught In prejudice and 
aflSrming nothing that is not written in the records and 
backed up with trustworthy evidence. He would not 
rob anyone of any genuine comfort that may be derived 
from this faith, but the truth should be told though it 
may evoke indignant criticism or give temporary pain. 
And the truth in time will prevail and bring forth the 
peaceable fruits of righteousness. He has laid bare the 
nature of this system and uncovered its foundations, and 
its origin and history and doctrines and doings do not 
commend it. As a form of religion it is not worthy of 



OLD TRUTHS NEWLY EMPHASIZED 305 

acceptation, and we do not believe it can last. We turn 
from it with relief to escape from its unreality and ab- 
surdity to Him who is the Way, and the Truth, and the 
Life. These little human schemes of salvation that have 
swarmed along the path of the Christian centuries all 
have their brief day, but he is the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his 
words shall not pass away, and not one jot or tittle of his 
truth shall fail. 



INDEX 



Alcott, A. Bronson, 16. 
Arens, Edward J., 46, 176. 
Asceticism, 297. 

Atonement, Mrs. Eddy's doc- 
trine of, 104, 105, 170, 171. 
Babism, 276. 
Bageley, Miss Sarah, 34. 
Baker, Abigail, mother of Mary, 

Baker, Albert, brother of Mary, 

24, 25, 30. 
Baker, Mark, father of Mary» 

22, 24, 27, 28, 30. 
Baker, Mary, see Eddy, Mrs. 

Mary Baker. 
Barry, George W., 41, 81. 
Benson, Robert Hugh, quoted, 

91, 147. 
Berkeley, 15, 117, 150. 
Bible, The, see Scripture. 
Body, and soul, relations of, 

223ff, 289ff, 298. 
Bowne, B. P., 147. 
Brown, Lucretia L., 45. 
Browning, quoted, 156. 
Biichner, Friedrich, 288. 
Buckley, Dr. J. M., 230, quoted, 

241, 242. 
Cabot, Dr. Bichard C, quoted, 

239, 241. 
Carlyle, 81. 

Carpenter, W. B., 224. 
Carroll, H. K., quoted, 163, 

220, 221, 222. 
Cassiodorus, 225. 
Celsus, Roman medical au- 
thority, 225. 
Chandler, Senator, quoted, 252. 
Channing, W. E., 15. 
Cheerfulness, duty of, 297ff. 
Cheny, Russell, 28. 
Chesterton, G. K., quoted, 154. 



Children, Christian Science treat- 
ment of, 107, 108, 152, 155, 
205, 241, 244. 

Christ, Jesus, Mrs, Eddy's doc- 
trine of, 126, 169; his teaching 
as to miraculous cures, 23 Iff; 
as an optimist, 298; indwell- 
ing in Christians, 302; the 
final Truth and Way, 305. 

Christianity, relation of Chris- 
tian Science to, 166ff; 270, 
271, 280. 

Church, The Christian Science, 
founding of, 174ff; dissensions 
in, 178ff; dissensions in The 
Mother Church, 186ff; or- 
ganization of, 188ff; despotism 
of the Manual of, 189ff, 
branch churches, how or- 
ganized and controlled, 197ff; 
worship in, 209ff; membership 
of, 219ff. 

Clapp, Mrs. Catherine O., 70, 
71; 81. 

Clarke, James Freeman, 15. 

Coriat, Dr. I. H., his connection 
with the Emmanuel Church 
Movement, 284. 

Corner, Mrs. Abbey H., student 
of Mrs. Eddy, 180. 

Craft, Hiram, 33. 

Craft, Mrs. Mary, 33. 

Crosby, Mrs. Sarah, 68. 

Crosse, Mrs. Sarah, editor of 
the Christian Science Journal, 
180. 

Cures, Miraculous, have they 
ceased? 231ff. 

Gushing, Dr. Alvin M., 59-61. 

Cutten, George Barton, quoted, 
229. 

Dante, quoted, 303. 



307 



308 



INDEX 



Darwinism, Mrs. Eddy's sum- 
mary of, 141. 

Davis, Andrew Jackson, 18. 

Death, Mrs. Eddy's doctrine of, 
111, 125, 153, 154. 

Disease, Mrs. Eddy's theory of 
healing, 115ff, 120, 132, 234; 
true healing of, 232, 294. 

Dowie, John Alexander, 228, 
230. 

Dresser, Horatio W., quoted, 
62, 63, 74, 75, 222, 274, 275, 
277, 279-280; leader of "New 
Thought" movement, 281ff. 

Dresser, Julius A., his book on 
Christian Science, 13, 60, 61; 
his relation to Quimby, 62, 
63; 73-75. 

Eastman, Dr. C. J., 29-50. 

Eddy, Asa Gilbert, third hus- 
band of Mrs. Eddy, marriage 
to Mrs. Glover, 39; death of, 
48 49* 249. 

Eddy, Dr. E. J. Foster, Mrs. 
Eddy's adopted son, 52, 53, 
181, 249. 

Eddy, George W., Mrs. Eddy's 
son, 28-30, 256. 

Eddy, Mrs. Mary Baker G., 
her books, 6-9; authorizes 
Miss Wilbur's Life, 9, 10; 
relation to Berkeley, 15; life 
of, 22-57; birth and parentage, 
22; childhood experiences and 
schooling, 21-27; her hys- 
terical attacks, 23, 26, 27; 
marriage to G. W. Glover, 
27, 28; relations with her son, 
28-30; as a medium, 30, 31; 
marriage to Daniel Patterson, 
second husband, 31; divorced 
from Dr. Patterson, 32; visits 
Quimby, 32; begins practice 
of healing, 33; wander years, 
32-36; at work in Lynn, 36- 
47; writes "Science and 
Health," 37; removes to 
Boston, 37; glimpse into her 



classroom, 38; marriage to 
Asa Gilbert Eddy, third hus- 
band, 39; her obsession as to 
"M. A. M.", 42-47; organizes 
her church and Metaphysical 
College, 47; life and work in 
Boston, 47ff; relations with 
Calvin A. Frye, 50, 51; adopts 
Dr. E. J. Foster as her son, 
52, 53; leaves Boston, 54; re- 
tirement and closing years, 
54ff; her death, 56; her claims 
as to her discovery of 
Christian Science, 58ff; her 
visits to Quimby, 65ff; her 
tributes to Quimby, 66, 67; 
proof that she derived her 
teaching from Quimby, 68ff; 
her denial of such dependence, 
72ff; the Quimby manuscript 
she used, 77ff; employs Rev. 
James Henry Wiggin as her 
literary reviser, 86ff; claims 
to divine inspiration, 94ff; her 
doctrine of prayer, 103, 104; 
her "interpretation" of The 
Lord's Prayer, 104; her doc- 
trine of atonement and the 
Eucharist, 104-106; her doc- 
trine of marriage, 107ff, 159ff, 
171; her denial of matter, 112, 

120, 124,^ 127, 149ff, 168ff; 
her doctrine of spiritualism, 
llOff; of death. 111, 125, 153, 
154; her pantheism, 112, 115, 

121, 125ff, 136ff, 156ff, 166ff; 
her theory of "mortal mind," 
112ff, 120, 134, 150ff, 168ff; 
her theory and fear of "animal 
magnetism," 42, 51, 52, 112ff, 
175ff,^ 205; her theory of 
medicine, 114ff ; of physiology, 
1 17ff ; of man, 120ff ; her answer 
to objections to Christian 
Science, 126ff ; her teaching as 
to obstetrics, 134; her bound- 
less credulity, 141; identifies 
herself with the "woman" 



INDEX 



309 



in Revelation, 141, 142; her 
teaching, 149ff; relation of 
her teaching to Christian 
doctrines, 166ff; her eschatol- 
ogy, 172; the founding of her 
church, 174ff; her troubles in 
her church, 178ff; her quarrel 
with Mrs. Woodbury, 181ff; 
with Mrs. ^ Stetson, 183ff; 
her dictatorial control of her 
church, 193ff; her censorship 
of literature, 199ff; her church 
service, 209ff; her **Fruitage" 
of healing, 233ff; her merce- 
nary spirit, 245ff; her bogus 
"Metaphysical College," 248, 
249; her catchpenny devices, 
252ff; her unwillingness to 
suffer pain and fastidious 
desire for comfort, 262; her 
fear of divisions in her church, 
275; rival sects of her system, 
276ff; elements of truth in 
her system, 287ff. 

Edwards. Jonathan, 15, 

Emerson, 15, 16, 150. 

Emmanuel Church Movement, 
283ff; 296. 

Eschatology, Mrs. Eddy's, 172. 

Etymologies, Mrs. Eddy's, 25, 
90, 91, 124. 

Eucharist, The, Mrs. Eddy's 
doctrine of, 105, 106, 171. 

Evans, Warren F., 18; his teach- 
ing and relation to Quimby, 
64ff; 281. 

Faith Cure, Mrs. Eddy's denial 
of, 115ff ; yet her own principle, 
129, 234; kinds of, 227ff. 

Ferrier, Professor James F., 
quoted, 150. 

Fetishism, affinity of Christian 
Science with, 133. 

Foster, John, 297. 

Fox sisters, 20. 

Frothingham, O. B., 15. 

Frye, Calvin A., relations with 
Mrs. Eddy, 59-61; 87. 



Glover, G. W., Mrs. Eddy's 
first husband, 27, 28. 

Gnostics, 155, 165. 

God, the practice of the presence 
of, 300ff; the immanence of, 
301ff; see Pantheism. 

Goddard, Dr. Henry H., on 
efficacy of prayer in disease, 
233, 241. 

Gray, Judge Horace, 45. 

Greenbaum, Mr. and Mrs. Leon, 
their revolt against Christian 
Science despotism, 208, 209. 

Haeckel, Ernest, 288. 

Hale, Edward Everett, 87, 

Harris, Thomas Lake, 18, 19. 

Hart, Dean of University of 
Denver, quoted, 148. 

Healing, Mrs. Eddy's theory of, 
115ff, 120, 129ff; faith healing 
her principle, 131; mind heal- 
ing in general, 223ff; kinds 
of, 227, 228; miraculous, has 
it ceased .f^ 23 Iff; cases of 
Christian Science healing ex- 
amined, 233ff; proper means 
of, 294. 

Health, the gospel of, 292ff; 
duty of, 295ff. 

Hole cm be W. F., "New 
Thought" writer, 281. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 16. 

Huber, Dr. John B., 241. 

Hugo, Victor, quoted, 299. 

Human Life, journal, 9. 

Hume, David, 149. 

Hutchinson, Dr. Woods, 226. 

Hutton, R. H., 224. 

Hygiene, Mrs. Eddy's rejection 
of, 118, 129. 

Hymns, Christian Science, 21 Iff; 
Parody on "Rock of Ages," 
213. 

Idealism, philosophical, ex- 
plained, 14; Mrs. Eddy's mis- 
understanding of, 122, 149- 
151, 266ff; true, 291, 292. 

Immanence, The divine, 300ff. 



310 



INDEX 



James, William, on the efficacy 
of prayer, 284. 

Joy, the Bible a book of, 298. 

Kennedy, Richard, meets Mrs. 
Eddy, 36, becomes her part- 
ner, 36, 37: falls under her 
condemnation, 43, 44; testi- 
mony as to Mrs. Eddy's 
pantheism, 158, 159; 175, 
176; 195. 

Kuhns, Oscar, quoted, 292. 

Ladd, Professor G. T., quoted, 
173. 

Lea, Charles Herman, his book 
on Christian Science, 12. 

Longfellow, 16. 

Lotze, Hermann, 149. 

McClure's Magazine, 8, 9. 

McComb, Rev. Dr. Samuel, 
his connection with the Em- 
manuel Church Movement, 
283, 284. 

Magnetism, Animal, 19, 27; 
"M. A. M." 42ff; in Boston, 
51, 52; Mrs. Eddy's doctrine 
of, 112ff; 175ff; 205. 

Man, Mrs. Eddy's doctrine of, 
112, 120, 121, 158, 169. 

Manichaeans, 155. 

Marriage, Mrs. Eddy's doctrine 
of, 107ff, 159ff, 171.^ 

Mars, Gerhardt C, his book 
on Christian Science, 11; 
quoted, 147. 

Marshall, H. R., 224. 

Marsten, Francis E., quoted, 
162,165,166. 

Materialism, Mrs. Eddy mired 
in, 146; practical, 288ff. 

Matter, Mrs. Eddy's theory of, 
112, 120, 124, 127, 149ff, 
168ff. 

Medicine, Christian Science 
theory of, 114ff; use of Scrip- 
tural, 232; natural and nec- 
essary, 294. 

Mesmerism, 19, 113, 175, 176, 
179. See Magnetism. 



Metaphysics, Mrs. Eddy's, 114ff. 

Milmine, Georgine, her Life of 
Mrs. Eddy, 8, 9; quoted 20, 
24, 26, 27, 34, 45, 50, 52, 5Q, 
77, 81, 85, 86, 89, 90, 93, 159, 
176, 177, 178, 185, 186, 199, 
237 255 256. 

Mind,' *'Mortai," Mrs. Eddy's 
doctrine of, 112, 120, 124, 
150ff, 168ff, 

Mitchell, Dr. Weir, 226. 

Moll, Dr. Albert, quoted, 224; 
241. 

Mormonism, affinity with Chris- 
tian Science, 19. 

Moulton, Dr. T. G., quoted, 212. 

Newhall, Mrs. Armenius, 33. 

Newhall, Miss Elizabeth, 81. 

Newman, John Henry, 212. 

*'New Thought," 281ff. 

Nicolaitans, 156, 166. 

Nixon, W. G., 53, 54. 

Noyes, Dr. Rufus K., 48, 49. 

Osier, Sir William, quoted, 230. 

Paget, Stephen, his book on 
Christian Science, 12; quoted, 
147, 237; his examination of 
Christian Science cures, 240ff. 

Pain, Mrs. Eddy's theory of, 
112, 152; use of, 293, 294. 

Pantheism, Mrs. Eddy's, 112, 
115, 121, 125ff, 136ff, 139, 
156ff, 166ff, 172, 272, 300. 

Parker, Theodore, 15. 

Patterson, C. B., "New 
Thought" writer, 281. 

Patterson, Dr. Daniel, Mrs. 
Eddy's second husband, 31, 
32. 

Patton, Francis L., his judg- 
ment of Mark Twain's "Chris- 
tian Science," 12, 13. 

Paulsen, Friedrich, 149. 

Peabody, Frederick W., his 
book on Christian Science, 
12; 46; quoted, 48, 49; on 
relations of Mrs. Eddy and 
Calvin A. Frye, 51; 77, 98; 



INDEX 



311 



quoted, 161, 163, 182, 183, 
237, 248, 249, 251, 252, 254. 

Physiology, Mrs. Eddy's theory 
of, 117ff. 

Plato, 149. 

Pleasure, Mrs. Eddy's theory of, 
112, 152, 153; hedonistic pur- 
suit of, 265, 288. ^ 

Podmore, Frank, his book on 
Christian Science, 13; quoted, 
264. 

Polk, Dean W. M., quoted, 147. 

Powell, Lyman P., his book on 
Christian Science, 9; quoted, 
15, 46; 77, 83, 91, 92, 163, 164. 

Poyen, Charles, mesmerist, 19, 
20, 27, 61, 78. 

i^rayer, Mrs. Eddy's doctrine 
of, 103, 104; her "inter- 
pretation" of The Lord's 
Prayer, 104; her doctrine of 
prayer pantheistic, 157, 158, 
170, 204, 205, 213; Mrs. 
Eddy's travesty of The Lord's 
Prayer, 214; efficacy of prayer 
in curing disease, 233, 284, 
295ff, 302. 

Principle, Mrs. Eddy's use of, 
see Pantheism. 

Providence, 302. 

Purrington, William A., quoted, 
241. 

Quimby, George A., son of 
P. P., 74. 

Quimby, Phineas Parkhurst, 
reader of the Bible and 
Berkeley, 15; interested in 
mesmerism, 20; his life and 
teaching, 6 Iff; relations with 
Mrs. Eddy, 65ff; his death, 
68; his manuscript used by 
Mrs. Eddy, 77ff. 

Rawson, F. L., quoted, 276. 

Riley, Professor Woodbridge, 
on the geographical distri- 
bution of Christian Science, 
260-262; quoted, 267ff. 

Royce, Josiah, 149. 



Rydberg, Viktor, quoted, 43, 

144. 
Sanborn, Dyer H., 24, 25. 

Sanborn, Mahala, 28. 

Schofield, Dr. A. T., 226; quoted, 
227, 228, 230. 

"Science and Health," making 
of the book, 77ff; editions of, 
80ff; Mark Twain's critical 
examination of, 84ff; who 
wrote the book? 84ff; claims 
as to its divine inspiration, 
94ff; contents of the book, 
102ff; its lack of order and 
its endless reiteration, 102ff; 
claim that reading it will cure, 
132, 133, 229, 236; opinions 
of the book, 147ff; repetitions 
in, 149; its use in Christian 
Science church service, 216ff; 
profit on the book, 249ff; a 
purpose it may have fulfilled, 
274. 

Science, Christian, truth and 
error in, 4-6; literature of, 
6-13; the subsoil of, 14^21; 
a spurious form of idealism, 
15, 122, 149ff, 266ff; affinity 
with Shakerism, 17, 18; with 
Mormonism, 19; Mrs. Eddy's 
claims as to its discovery, 
58ff; her statement of its 
fundamental propositions, 
114ff; its pantheism, 125 
136ff, 156ff, 166ff ; Mrs. Eddy's 
answer to objections to, 126ff, 
its cruelty to the sick and 
suffering, 130ff, 243ff; affinity 
with fetishism and devil wor- 
ship, 133; its teaching, 14 Off; 
its perversion of Christian 
doctrines, 166ff; the incon- 
gruity of its name, 173; its 
church service, 209ff ; its cures, 
233ff; its mercenary spirit, 
245ff; its appeal of health, 
259ff; of comfort ^ 262ff; its 
hedonism, 264ff; its appeal 



312 



INDEX 



of idealism, 266S; its appeal of 
liberal revolt, 270ff; its re- 
ligious appeal, 270ff ; the 
future of, 273ff; divisions and 
rival sects in, 275 jff; growing 
opposition to, 278ff; its war 
against Scripture, science and 
common sense, 280; elements 
of truth in, 287ff. 

Scripture, Mrs. Eddy's use of, 
106, 107, 124, 137ff, 171ff, 
216ff. 

Senses, The, Christian Science 
view of, 145, 146, 155, 172. 

Shakerism, affinity of Christian 
Science with, 17, 18. 

Sin, Mrs. Eddy's doctrine of, 
104, 134, 153, 155ff, 158, 169ff. 

Smith, Rev. Charles M., 54. 

Smith, Joseph, founder of Mor- 
monism, 19. 

Soul, and body, relations of, 
223ff, 239ff, 298. 

Spirit, Holy, Mrs. Eddy's doc- 
trine of, 107, 126, 169. 

Spiritualism, 20; Mrs. Eddy's 
belief in and practice of, 30, 
31; her doctrine of, 110, 111. 

Spofford, Daniel H., student of 
Mrs. Eddy, 38, 39;condemned 
by Mrs. Eddy, 44, 45, 46; 
114, 175, 176, 195. 

Stanley, Charles, student of 
Mrs. Eddy, 158, 159. 

Stetson, Mrs. Augusta E., 154; 
her rival church in New York 
and expulsion from TheMother 
Church, 183ff; 191, 192, 195; 
quoted, 208; her own system 
of healing, 275. 

Sturge, Miss M. Carta, quoted, 
148. 

Suggestion, Hypnotic, 227. 

Surgery, Christian Scientists not 
to attempt it, 131. 

Testament, Expositor's Greek, 
quoted, 232. 



Tilton, Mrs. Abby, sister of 
Mrs. Eddy, 35, 36. 

Toplady, Augustus, 212. 

Townsend, Luther T., his chal- 
lenge to Mrs. Eddy, 238, 239. 

Transcendentalism, in New Eng- 
land, 15-17. 

Trine, Ralph Waldo, "New 
Thought" writer, 281. 

Truth in Christian Science, 
259ff, 287ff; summary of, 303. 

Tuke, Dr. D. H., 226. 

Twain, Mark, his book on 
Christian Science, 12; his 
critical examination of 
"Science and Health", 84ff; 
on Mrs. Eddy's use of the 
name "Mother Mary," lOOff; 
his characterization of the 
Manual of The Mother 
Church, 190, 191, 192, 193; 
on Mrs. Eddy's profits, 249, 
250; on the future of Christian 
Science, 273ff. 

Unitarianism, 15. 

Voltaire, quoted, 172. 

Walcott, Mrs. Julia, 33. 

Warfield, Dr. B. B., 230, 231; 
on counterfeit miracles, 233. 

Watts, Isaac, 212. 

Weaver, E. E., on the Emmanuel 
Church Movement, 286. 

Webster, Captain, 33. 

Wentworth, Charles O., 70. 

Went worth, Horace, 34; his 
affidavit as to Mrs. Eddy, 
69-70. 

Wentworth Mrs. Sally, 34, 69, 
81. 

Wesley, Charles, 212. 

Wheeler, Mrs. James, 33. 

White, Andrew D., quoted, 46. 

Whittier, 212. 

Wiggin, Rev. James Henry, his 
testimony as to Mrs. Eddy's 
dependence on Quimby, 75, 
76; Mrs. Eddy's literary re- 



INDEX 



313 



viser, 86ff; dismissed by Mrs. 

Eddy, 92, 93; his opinion of 

Christian Science, 93, ,94. 
Wilbur, Sybil, her Life of Mrs. 

Eddy, 9-11; quoted, 47. 
Wilby, Thomas W., his book on 

Christian Science, 12; quoted, 

263. 
Wood, Henry, "New Thought" 

writer, 281; quoted, 294, 301. 
Woodbury, Mrs. Josephine, C, 



quoted, 165, 177; her separa- 
tion from Mrs. Eddy, ISlff; 
195, 199. 

Woolcott, Rev. P. C, quoted, 
148. 

Worcester, Rev. Dr. Elwood, 
his account of the Emmanuel 
Church Movement, 283ff, 296. 

Wordsworth, quoted, 301. 

Worship, Christian Science, 
209ff. 



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